On Second Thought
That was yesterday. Today, well everything looks so different.
Whereas a deal to prevent us going over the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ appeared well in the works over the weekend and into this week, it now seems that we might all be mistaken. The Republicans have hardened their stance. We are almost back to the black days of 2011.
The problem always seems to start with Obama’s negotiating technique. He says tough things initially, but all too soon he begins a retreat. In his mind this is a process of making concessions in order to arrive at a compromise – his willingness to lift the base income for his tax increase from $250,000 to $400,000 is an example. The problem is that the Republicans are so dogmatic and committed to an all-or-nothing process that each Obama concession is seen as a sign of weakness. So far from being encouraged to move towards compromise they withdraw further to the right. They take back stuff previously given. They toughen their position.
This is what you get when you try to deal with extremists. They have no intention of reaching compromise. They are fighting a do-or-die battle. They are not concerned at all with the ramifications of failure to reach a deal. They don’t want a deal. They want to destroy the current system. So, to them, if it suffers in the absence of a deal there is no problem. That our economy will be forced into recession is not an issue. After all, through the perverted lens of contemporary Republicanism, a recession is simply a cleansing process, a purging of the weak. That dead weight of the infamous 47% will suffer because they deserve to suffer.
And since there are enough hard liners in the Republican caucus in Congress they can dictate the terms of debate. In this case they appear to have stalled discussions.
Their principal objection to Obama’s most recent offer is that it fails to cut enough government spending and relies too much on revenue increases. In other words, Obama is not sufficiently committed to right wing extremism.
I have said it so many times I am sure that you are all tired of reading this: the so-called crisis we are facing is entirely manufactured. It is not a property of the economy’s functioning. We are not trying to remedy an imbalance in the economy’s workings. This is an ideologically driven attack on the core functioning of government. The Republican drive to cut spending is not a function of fiscal need – cutting the deficit or trimming the debt – it is a function of their long held political aim to defund all social programs. They hate the poor, the elderly, the sick, and the very young of our country so much that they want, with an unprecedented fervor, to stop state assistance to those groups. They have successfully nurtured the circumstances for their attack. They have altered the public perception of reality to the extent that many voters seem to think spending cuts are unavoidable. They have managed to bamboozle the media into thinking Obama unreasonable were he not to make concessions to their agenda. This entire discussion is never called unnecessary, instead we have been forced to march to a right wing drumbeat where cuts are needed, taxes must never be raised, and our government must not act as an agent in the economy’s workings. That this is extreme has been masked by the four decade long right wing framing of all our political discussion.
So it is no surprise at all that they are now demanding even more. This is after Obama has already gone too far.
There are times in history when reasonable people have to realize that they are in the company of intolerance and unreason. When that moment arrives the consequences are dire whichever course is chosen. Appease the extremists and they simply ask for more. Confront them and conflict is inevitable. Either way reasonable people must suffer. The comfort and harmony of normal political process, of disagreement, argument, and debate must be left behind. In times like these, when the nation is being held to ransom by a few hardliners – whose agenda, we must remember, was just decisively rejected – the only course for reasonable people is to suspend the conversation. It is a time to fight for principal.
That takes spine. It takes a willingness to suffer for the long term good. And it takes leadership.
The question is whether we have the stomach for the fight. Does Obama?
I fear more concessions are in the wind. Appeasement proceeds.
Addendum:
OK, the action is thick and fast.
First, the Republicans switch gears and say they will pass in the House a bill that maintains the Bush tax regime for everyone below an income of $1 million a year. That’s it. There is nothing else in their bill. Not a thing. No spending cuts. No mention of the debt ceiling. Nada. The only purpose of the proposal is that it removes Obama’s complaint that the Republicans are holding everything up to prevent a tax increase for millionaires. This gambit is called Plan ‘B’. Actually, if you think about it, even millionaires get a tax break in Plan’B’ since all their income at the lower tax brackets is protected from a tax increase.
Second, Obama threatens to veto Plan ‘B’, saying it isn’t a serious effort to deal with the budget issues, it sin’t balanced, and is a move away from the near deal that he thought existed over the weekend.
Third, the Republicans say go ahead. Veto it. But it’s all we are prepared to do.
This looks like an impasse. There have been no negotiations for two days. The back and forth has increased in rancor. Communication is now more via press conference than around the negotiating table.
We could be going over the cliff.
The question is: why would the Republicans be so intransigent? The public has the perception that if we go over the cliff the Republicans are to blame. Plus going over the cliff strengthens Obama – he could then call for a retroactive reduction in taxes for whatever group he likes and then dare the GOP to vote against such a tax cut. Plus the sequester at the heart of the cliff includes stinging reductions in defense spending amongst other things. This is hardly the stuff the GOP constantly tries to stand for.
Who knows?
The really big issue seems to be that the extremists have such a hold on the Republican party that they have effectively shot down everything Speaker Boehner has negotiated with Obama. He no longer controls his own caucus, and is thus ineffective. Basically Plan ‘B’ was a very public message to the White House: this is all there is in the House. Take it or leave it. If the White House leaves it, then there doesn’t seem to be much else to do but wait. I assume some conversations are still possible, but with Boehner so hamstrung there doesn’t appear to be any room for further compromise.
Stay tuned.
