While the extremists and Kool-Aid drinkers in the GOP controlled House of Representatives may still be a stumbling block and a final vote is still needed, purportedly the White House and Democratic and Republican leaders of both houses of Congress claim that a deal has been reached. Is it a good deal? My bets are that long term it will prove to be harmful. However, without some kind of deal, tomorrow could see the country immediately go off a financial cliff. Scanning the headlines many think Obama gave away the store - no surprise there to me. If Obama had been negotiation in World War II, we'd all likely be speaking German today. The only real winners seem to be the forces of "No" whom John McCain recently referred to as Hobbits on the Senate floor. It is of huge concern that going forward these hobbits will have learned that by being intransigent, they can get their way. Here are highlights from a triumphal op-ed piece in the Washington Post that looks at the supposed deal from a pro-Tea Party view:*
The reported debt-limit deal appears to be a victory for the Tea Party. It includes around $1 trillion in spending cuts and creates a special committee of Congress to recommend cuts of $1.2 trillion more. If Congress does not approve those additional cuts by year’s end, automatic spending cuts go into effect. The package sets an important new precedent that debt-limit increases must be “paid for” with commensurate cuts in spending.
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The devil is in the details, of course. There are troubling reports that the agreement may disproportionately cut defense spending. Conservatives should ensure that the final deal, which is still being hammered out at the time of this writing, does not gut defense. They should scour the legislation to make certain it lives up to its billing. If it does, the Tea Party has won.
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According to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, the proposed deal has no tax increases. The Tea Party took tax hikes off the table and held the line — another major victory.
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The Tea Party is also winning the battle of ideas. Last week, Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod crowed that the debt-limit battle was shaping up as a “definitional fight” in which voters would see Obama as defending the reasonable center against Republicans who are “pandering to the extremes.” Well, if Axelrod is so confident that Obama is winning this “definitional fight,” why was the White House so adamant about ducking a second round next year?
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Instead of winning over independents with his calls for a “balanced” approach, the president’s support among independents has collapsed. A Pew poll released last week found that a majority of independents now disapprove of Obama’s job performance for the first time in his presidency. Two months ago, Obama held an 11-point lead over a generic Republican. Today, that lead has vanished. Whatever the president’s strategy was, it failed.
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Now comes that hard part: accepting an incomplete victory. Some Tea Party Republicans will be unhappy with the deal because it does not include a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. . . . . That the Tea Party accomplished all this in just six months — at a time when the GOP controls one-half of one-third of the federal government — is remarkable. The “hobbits” won.
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Time will tell whether or not this "victory" sends the nation back into recession. As for the elderly who in my view stupidly believe the GOP batshitery, they may yet rue the fruits of their own gullibility.
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