Sometimes the stupid burns. I went into a diary on the top of the rec list critcizing President Obama's proposed budget on various grounds, including that it proposes chained cpi. I think the quest for a Grand Bargain may have been this President's worst mistake, and chasing after Republicans again by offering this is bad policy. I might have recommended this diary, until I came to this:
But the way Obama's plan has turned out, it seems like progressives could have gotten a better deal if Romney was in office and we let Reid play obstructionist and try and force a balanced compromise.
Chained CPI and More Austerity are Back On the Table in Obama's Fresh Budget Plan
To me, that is immature idiocy. Maybe the author forgets the time from January 2001 through January 2009. Yes, a Democratic Senate was obstructionist to the point that it approved the Bush tax cuts and the AUMF on Iraq. Bush caused the Great Recession with his deregulation. And Dems could do little. We went backwards in that time and suffering increased. Many died in the wars.
In 2000, we who supported Nader thought that Bush and Gore were not that different on fundamental issues like corporate domination of government, although we recognized there were differences. Bush turned out to be far, far worse than any of us imagined, and if I could do it over again, I'd not have voted for Nader (although my vote made no difference in that Bush won my state by more than the number of Nader votes).
My point is that chained cpi and the quest for a Grand Bargain are bad policies that I oppose. But you cannot oppose it effectively with your head in your ass, and saying people would be better off had Romney won and Reid obstructing is exactly that. That ain't progressive. It's just stupid.
I'm glad President Obama was re-elected, and I'd vote and contribute to him even if I knew he would propose chained cpi. That said, I think we need to pressure Dem senators to oppose a Grand Bargain. There should be blowback for this proposal. But wet dreams about a Romney presidency belong on Red State, not the Rec List.
Update I: Joanneleon makes some very good points with which I agree:
I agree (2+ / 0-)
Recommended by:raboof, TomP
and generally we can disagree without it devolving into a wrestling match. I appreciate the dissection of where you agree and disagree. I sincerely think, Tom, that you have to let people vent and second guess. It's just natural. Calling them stupid and idiotic is really not fair.
We do have to stick together. This is one issue where we know where almost everybody stands. 80% of the country opposes these cuts. They are intensely unfair in any situation but especially in our current situation.
One voice, loud, knock this down. If they do it anyway, then we have some serious decisions to make. If they don't, well solidarity will have worked. I'm not convinced that they will listen to us even if we have solidarity, given what we have seen in the 1% austerity movement around the globe. This is bigger than Obama or the Democrats. Opposing Obama is not a goal, overall, but we are talking issues here, not people. That is the most frustrating thing when people take these things personally and make them all about Obama. He's the head of state, and he is leading on this, and that's why we oppose him. Not because he is Obama.
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"Justice is a commodity"
by joanneleon on Fri Apr 05, 2013 at 10:33:55 AM CDT
I probably over reacted to that statement in the diary.
I agree with joanneleon that we should oppose chanied cpi in this budget.