Conventional wisdom being marketed by the media is that the debt ceiling deal is a triumph for Republicans and the Tea Party and a crushing defeat for President Obama. (The Democratic Party itself seems to be sidelined here; it’s just Obama versus the entire Right in this scenario.)
At the high end of the hyperbole scale we find some whackjob at the British Telegraph proclaiming the death of the Socialist Left in America. (We had a Socialist Left? Where has it been all these years?) Another headline says, “Obama forced to swallow Tea Party demands.”
Plenty of bloggers across the political spectrum have bought the CW. Oddly, those claiming to speak for the Tea Party itself are unhappy with the deal. One wrote,
I stand here in abject stupefaction. The so-called “right” or “Tea Party” in this republic is being so thoroughly rolled and defeated that I am struggling to come up with an adequate violent submission metaphor that does not involve prison rape . . . and they honesty think that they’re “winning.” Really? You call this winning?
Silly person. You think the Tea Party belongs to the people who believe in it? Hah. You are just props. The Tea Party is a media fiction that channels the will of its deep-pocket sponsors, and all they care about is defeating President Obama and not paying taxes. So … no new taxes? Obama looks bad? Win/win!
Basically, what we are seeing is the fabricated reaction to the fabricated resolution of a fabricated crisis. It’s all theater.
I’m putting together some analysis that I plan to post later today. The deal itself is neither an unambiguous win for Republicans nor an unambiguous loss for Democrats, unless Democrats allow themselves to be fooled into accepting it as an unambiguous loss. Unfortunately, liberal groupthink requires that we all burn our “Yes we can” buttons and convince ourselves that Mitt Romney wouldn’t be any worse. The rest of August we’ll be seeing the leftie lemmings rush for the cliffs while screaming that whoever is not rushing with them is an Obamabot.
This is Kabuki theater, but Kabuki theater is something the Dems are terribly horrible at playing. They could make a win look and feel like a loss. And this is no win. My head tells me this is the best deal he could get blah, blah, blah. My heart tells me I want a President that will fight for what’s important. I don’t want a negotiator, I want a fighter who fights for what I believe. The repugs seem to be able to do it. Sigh.
The Tea Party came to power in the House with a pretty specific agenda, even if the means was unclear.
Repeal ObamaCare. They did. The Senate laughed, and someone informed them that what they passed in want law until the Senate and the President agreed. Bummer, dude.
Pass the Balanced Budget Amendment. The debt ceiling hostage crisis was ALL about forcing the Senate to pass it with a Two-step thirds majority. (The President does not sign on to a constitutional amendment.) The belief was that the Senate would cave under pressure from Wall Street. The vote in the
Well I can’t see how it was a big win for the tea-tards. They passed what they wanted, gut, crap, balance, they did not get that. They said they would not raise the debt ceiling without an equal or greater cut in spending, they did not get that. They wanted to keep this in the news to use against President Obama before the next election they didn’t get that either. What they did get is a more legitimate role in the eyes of the “lame stream media”, oh boy that was a win, the tea-baggers only watch FAUX and they have been pimping for them all along anyway. I thought your description yesterday was spot on, “nothing for everyoneâ€. The media will always spin for the teabaggers, it sells commercials. In the long run the president wins just by not losing, you know El-rushbo etc. would have loved nothing less than selling the line “this president put us into defaultâ€. If the last six months has taught us anything it is that the republican party is immune to shame, hypocrisy is their fuel. This may not be the perfect time to start trimming the debt but it has to be done, we are spending 25% of GDP and only taking in 15% in taxes. Hopefully we can get both numbers around 20%-22% in the near future.
Too many Democrats want Obama to be a near dictator like Little Boots was.
Little Boots used bombast, threats, and BS to get what he wanted. He also had lockstep lemmings on the Republicans sideof both Houses, and too many cowering Democrats on the other. And we’re still paying for it – economically, morally, spiritually, politically, and in every other way possible.
I’ve read up more on what the details in this bill are all about. And the more I read, the less unhappy I am.
I still think that it should never have come to this.
And that the right has learned that extortion and hostage taking can be done with little or no political cost to them – or at least not yet. Here’s a Quinnipiac presidential poll of PA done yesterday:
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1327.xml?ReleaseID=1630
It’s not good for Obama.
Now, sure, the Republican candidates had the luxury of sitting and sniping from the side lines while Obama battled, or saying nothing at all, but it’s still telling.
If he had hoped to garner independents, it doesn’t look like it’s worked so far.
On the plus side, remember, we’ve still got 15 months before the election, so there’s plentyh of time to get to work.
Senate on the BBA will fail. So the Tea Party failed on the second goal.
The third goal is to prevent taxes from going up. The Bush Tax Cuts will expire in 2012 and Obama has promised not to extend them. The fight will be huge, because democrats will propose cuts for the majority under 250, the republicans will balk…. and the cuts will expire for all. Oh, well. Bottom line- The Tea Party is doomed on number three.
The fourth goal is to defeat Obama. He should be easy pickings, considering the economy. Except they don’t have a candidates isn’t more qualified for a padded cell. I predict if Romney gets the GOP nod, they will run a third-party candidate. We will see on number four, but those who predict Obama will lose can’t point to a candidate who can beat him..
The democrats can’t DO anything. But they have stopped the Tea Party.
It looks like Joe Nocera at the NY Times is trying to out-shrill Paul “Shrillgilla” Krugman:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/02/opinion/the-tea-partys-war-on-america.html
Mercifully, it appears that David “Dour Mr.” Brooks is still off today. Ross Douthat had a column yesterday, but I don’t really want to read that – my doctor told me I needed to cut down my intake of insipid nonsense.
I think it’s also important to keep in mind that the same lunatics are going to control the House until at least January 2013. Everyone’s been treating the debt ceiling fight like it’s the final battle of Armageddon, but of course for the Tea Party everything is the final battle of Armageddon. So now we’re just going to move on to the next manufactured crisis, and the next one, and in the meanwhile there will undoubtedly be some actual crises that no one foresees right now.
And that’s how it’s going to be. For the Republicans, there is no distinction between the 112th Congress and the 2012 election campaign. So that leaves Obama and the Democrats in the unenviable position of having to at least try to limit the damage while also, ideally, finding some way to rebuild the economy, all the while keeping a close eye on the politics because God forbid this bullshit should work to the right’s advantage next year.
So like it or not, you have to do some kabuki. Fortunately Obama is pretty good at it. However crappy the debt ceiling deal is, he definitely won the kabuki.
Food for thought…
http://money.msn.com/taxes/make-your-vacation-tax-deductible-mainstreet.aspx?GT1=33009
Stephen,
I think part of the long term startegy to treating EVERY piece of legislation like it’s ‘The 300″ Spartans at Thermopylae blocking the heathen Liberal Persians and their Kenyan King, is to make the people of this country so disenchanted and tired of politics, that they don’t show up to vote because they’re sick of ‘all’ of the assholes, or make really stupid decisions when they vote because they blocked everything out until the last second, in an effort to ignore the nonsense.
It’s kind of a more organic was to suppress the vote than their usual high-handed ways at state and local levels.
They’ve been doing this for years of course, but I think now they’ve perfected their method. Even I’m sick of this sh*t and need a break – and I’m the most political person I know!
gulag …That urge to just bailout on involvement in the whole political process is very real..Many times I’ve thought to myself what a waste of time it is to devote mental energy trying to understand the games these politicians are playing when I’m powerless to have an effect on them anyway.
I plead guilty to horribly misjudging Obama. I actually thought he was a tough, smart, and eloquent progressive, and not a slick, conniving, and eloquent corporate hack dominated by his Chicago-machine connections.
It was my fault that I believed him. I have covered politicians at all levels, and should have know better. But I still smart from what feels like a betrayal. The sad part is, he “coulda been a contender,” a contender for the top rank of presidents, like those who founded the nation, and like those who took office when the nation was in peril, such as Lincoln and FDR.
He could have hit the ground running in January1 2009, demanding that the Democratic Congress pass meaningful job, mortgage, infrastructure, and housing programs, soaking the rich to pay for it. He could have sneered at the GOP pols who tried to stop him, reveling in their hatred, and pointing out that they were odious toadies to the rich. He could have passed universal health care. He could have appointed decent judges and cabinet officers and forced them through the Senate with the wrath and mirth afforded the bully pulpit for those who choose to use it. He could have been a champion of civil liberties, not a scourge of whistle blowers and an out-sourcer of torture. He could have actually brought change to the sick and sorry substance and culture of Washington, primarily by reining in lobbyists and getting big money out of politics. He had the opportunity and the means. He might have failed, but so what? He obviously did not have the motive, since he didn’t really try in any meaningful way.
Does he not understand basic economics? Does he really think cutting taxes and spending creates jobs instead of destroying them? Does he not understand how a president must pressure legislators? Is he some naif who is over matched? Nope. Just another cog in the corporatization of America.
He seemed to be a last, best hope for America. But it turns out he wasn’t even interested in playing that role, except for dropping hints in campaign slogans. He is a typical trimmer of a politician, not a leader and no longer even pretending to be an inspiration. It is a wretched shame, and a tragedy for our country.
xpara—–amen
With ya till the last paragraph. Obamabots are the lemmings here, defending him with whatever rationalization they can devise.
New rule — anyone who calls anyone else an “Obamabot” forfeits commenting privileges henceforth. Consider this a warning.
Win, lose…too much emphasis on the parties involved. As you say, the T-party is the front for deep pocketed interests, and they did win, and will continue to win. They don’t need to get much; they only need to prevent movement in any progressive direction. Cut, cut, cut…not enough for the House lunatics? Well, a lot, and during a recession! Pretty good for the plutocrats.
No new revenues. Think that committee is going to pass on any of those?
The fact that the Right does not accomplish much of what it would like is not a loss for the people behind it. The long-term trends are all going their way. Bit by bit…
Trying to construe this recent battle as a win for the Democrats or Obama is madness. Okay, they managed to avoid complete defeat in a hostage encounter…is that cause for celebration? Joe Nocera was not being shrill in evaluating Obama – he correctly perceives Obama as someone without a clear vision or direction in his politics, always ready to compromise everything away because he hasn’t noticed that the system is rigged from the start. Getting all that advice from Tim Geithner and Summers helps that a lot.
I don’t see anyone doing that. There is a not-subtle difference between saying that something is less than an unmitigated disaster and saying that it is a win. Please note that I really, really do not like people who try to pigeonhole me or the regulars into any ideological niche. We actually try to think about thinks around here, and I dislike knee-jerk comments. Like yours.
I’ll give you one more chance, and if I see you spewing any more unoriginal groupthink, you’re banned.