When it comes to controversial matters between two or more parties, people often say that you know you're doing something right when everybody is mad at you. If that's true (and I believe it is), Obama must have it just about right regarding the hotly debated issue of the tax cuts.
On the left, as has been clear for several days, Democrats have expressed dismay over the deal Obama struck with Republican leaders, which extends the George W. Bush tax cuts across the board, for rich and poor -- and they are still putting up a brave fight against it. (Brave, but ultimately useless; if they succeed, won't Republicans simply do what they want a couple of months hence?)
On a more personal level, Charles Schumer, often depicted as a master of practicality, is reportedly particularly incensedby the "deal." But as this article makes clear, Schumer's main - dare I say only? - reason for wanting to continue the fight, which he recognizes could only endure for a month or two, is to "score some points" in public opinion against the Republicans. In this, he apes the Republicans themselves, demonstrating his willingness to ignore the country's best interests (economic recovery) in favor of political rectitude.
Meanwhile, arch-conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer has been heard from, arguing that Republicans, in agreeing to Obama's deal, have helped both to give him more stimulus spending and a means toward winning a second term. In this, I think he's probably correct, and we might ask why the GOP would agree to such a thing, if the answer weren't already provided in another piece today: Republicans are just about wetting-their-pants desperate to extend the tax cuts for the richest Americans.
All in all, the grousing from both sides of the fence is beginning to make it look as if Obama has found the right place to be. While Democratic legislators are still more interested in playing to the gallery of their home district constituents, Obama seems to be thinking beyond party orthodoxy and in terms more Presidential. It's a transformation every modern President has made at some point in his term, except George W. Bush.
All that being said, however, doesn't change the fact that everything being agreed to here -- the Republican insistence on extending tax cuts even for the wealthy, the Democratic backhanded acceptance of extending tax cuts for everyone else, and the concept of pouring more money into unemployment benefits, necessary as it may be just now -- leads to a worse deficit and a more severe problem for the future.
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