When negotiating with hostage takers who are willing to kill their hostages, the negotiators are at a serious disadvantage. Such was the case with the budget talks that concluded late Friday, with the Republicans playing the role of the hostage takers. Ever since Obama came into office, the GOP has done everything it could to harm the economy and bring down the President. Republicans know that with a pliant and unserious media, they won’t be blamed; the more the economy suffers, the more votes they’re likely to get from a populace that pays little attention to facts and has a painfully short memory.
Republicans voted against the stimulus bill, tried to block unemployment benefits at every turn, and held both unemployment benefits and middle class tax cuts hostage to tax cuts for the rich. They voted against the financial regulatory bill, and have tried to defund it ever since taking control of the House. Over the last three months, despite all their talk about jobs, their agenda has been dominated by trying to take away women’s reproductive freedoms and deny gays their rights. Their policies are unambiguously job killing, since it’s harmful to take any money out of our still-fragile economic recovery. The party opposes the interests of the overwhelming majority of the American people; its base is dominated by religious extremists and supporters of crony capitalism. And now Paul Ryan has added insulted to injury by proposing to massively cut Medicaid for the poor and disabled, privatize Medicare and force millions of seniors into poverty, all the while dramatically ballooning the deficit and cutting taxes for the rich by trillions more.
Given that the GOP has essentially taken leave of its senses, President Obama and the Democrats were in a terrible bind. If they gave in to the GOP’s demands, it would harm the economy and the American people; if they didn’t, the GOP would willingly shut down the government—harming the economy and the American people. It was a no-win situation. Obama decided to give the GOP almost everything it wanted, agreeing to cuts totaling close to $100 billion compared to his original budget proposal.
This was a bad deal, but I understand the need to be pragmatic and the “grown up” in the room. What I don’t understand is why Obama legitimized the GOP’s position by almost bragging that the compromise included the biggest spending cuts in history. That was astounding. He should have explained to the American people that spending cuts are a terrible policy, with unemployment near 9% and the recovery far from assured; he should have said that he agreed to the cuts only to avoid a shutdown and even worse damage.
Instead he allowed the GOP to move the goalposts once again towards the far right. Bigger spending battles lie ahead, and the GOP will now be emboldened to push for even deeper cuts.
Many on the Left have claimed that Obama is a weak negotiator. They point out that he often concedes to the Right’s demands before negotiations even start, and keeps echoing their rhetoric instead of forcefully presenting the progressive alternative. I keep asking myself why he does this, and I have no good answer. He has completely failed to reshape the debate over energy policy, going so far as to entirely drop the use of the term “climate change” from his speeches; on fiscal policy, with millions still out of work and other millions under-employed, he has completely abandoned the Keynesian rhetoric he ought to be using.
Some say that Obama is saving his political capital for fights over entitlements, or ending the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2% of Americans, or for his reelection campaign. Personally, I’m starting to wonder whether he’s ever actually going to mount a full-throated defense of American progressivism in the 21st century. I’m starting to think he simply doesn’t have it in him.
Someone needs to stand up strongly for core progressive principles against the GOP onslaught. If they don’t, America’s middle class could quickly become only a memory—and American greatness will be something for history books sooner than we think.
P.S. Word is out that Obama is giving a major speech on Wednesday outlining his vision for entitlement reform and proposing steps to rein in our long-term deficits. We will soon know whether he has the backbone to stand firm against the Republican onslaught against the middle class.
Jason Scorse