I just read Krugman and I see that he says essentially what I wrote earlier today, but he ends on a far darker note, which I've brooded about for months:
What Republicans have just gotten away with calls our whole system of government into question. After all, how can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless, to threaten the nation’s economic security, gets to dictate policy? And the answer is, maybe it can’t.
What we're witnessing now is a fast-motion replay of the 1820-1850s sectional crisis, in which a backward, utterly reckless and piously psychotic political party was willing to take down the Union in the cause of its own provincial interests.
What the contemporary GOP is playing isn't just political hardball; it's the once-unique antebellum version of American roulette. Each time the chamber fails to load, we breathe some relief; on the other hand each time the chamber fails to load, we're merely one chamber closer to blowing our brains out.
Have a nice day.
Interesting post. My partner was just remarking this past Saturday that she was watching a program on the lead-up to the Civil War and that in her eyes the same things were happening now. We also have our first black president...coincidence.
On another note, somehow, we must get past all this emo stuff and hair-on-fire blame the president while we take zero responsibility for voting in each and every election. Our turnout was pathetic in the mid-terms, yet we want to blame the president? I say we get the government we deserve.
Posted by: pamelabrown | August 01, 2011 at 11:06 AM
P.S. RE: Krugman. I love reading his economic columns but I think he sucks as a political analyst/pundit/bloviator.
Posted by: pamelabrown | August 01, 2011 at 11:08 AM
The House will vote first, not the Senate.
My money is on the Rs blowing their own brains out by voting it down.
No D should even cast their vote until all Rs have.
If the majority party in the House can't pass the bill on their own, they own the outcome.
If they do pass it on their own, let them own the outcome exclusively.
That's my email to Leader Pelosi for today.
Yes.We.Can. ... DO.More.Together!
Posted by: Bobfr | August 01, 2011 at 11:42 AM
I almost hope it is voted down and we go into default. Americans need a hard hard lesson, I think. I won't get my check next month and I won't be hiring the work that needs to be done to my old house and I won't be purchasing replacement appliances nor giving any donations to anything, especially political campaigns!
Posted by: SueMe | August 01, 2011 at 11:58 AM
P.S. Just read David Frum's article on CNN...think he read Krugman too.
Posted by: SueMe | August 01, 2011 at 12:07 PM
Read the following by a TPM reader and felt it worth sharing here:
"Let me get this straight. The President kept revenues on the table, did not touch the sunset provisions in the Bush tax cuts, ensured that military cuts keep the GOP honest, protected Medicare by adding in only provider cuts in the trigger, made the reduction apparently enough to stave off a debt downgrade, got the debt ceiling raised, wounded Boehner by demonstrating to the world that he is controlled by the Tea Party caucus, took out the requirement that a BBA be passed and sent to the states and got the extension through 2012? What exactly is wrong with this deal?"
Posted by: Lyle Richardson | August 01, 2011 at 01:59 PM
@SueMe: Sorry, maybe you can survive a default but millions of people cannot. Millions of people live paycheck to paycheck and one missed check is devastating for them. I don't wish that on anyone and Obama should never allow that to happen.
Posted by: Alli | August 01, 2011 at 02:23 PM
@Lyle Richardson
There also isn't anything in this bill that can't be undone by the next Congress. Except the part about raising the debt ceiling. That's basically what this agreement would do.
Posted by: Bulworth | August 01, 2011 at 02:38 PM
This is and has been much ado about nothing.
The debt ceiling has been raised. There is a commitment to cut about $100 billion a year for two years (because they cannot really commit beyond 2012). And there be be another $100 billion in cuts and or taxes for one maybe two years.
If Obama is reelected, the Bush tax cuts are dead. If he loses, they are permanent.
The US gave the Tax Party a lot of political clout last year. So they have every right to exercise it. The 2012 election will be between the Tea Party (including elimination of Medicare) and Obama.
If we are lucky, we will replace about 80 Tea Party congressmen with conservative Democrats. And 2013 will look a whole lot like 2009.
Obama did not leave anything on the table.
Posted by: Robert Lipscomb | August 01, 2011 at 02:52 PM
Alli, I too live from check to check and will have to dip into my meager savings to make it. I didn't mean to sound so cavalier about default, but I live in the midst of many tea-party types...many living very well, I might add, and I guess I would like them to get a grip. I deliver food to many of the people you reference and take fresh produce from my garden to them so I see the need first hand, but thanks for your post.
Posted by: SueMe | August 01, 2011 at 03:14 PM
"If Obama is reelected, the Bush tax cuts are dead. If he loses, they are permanent". THAT and the Supreme Court scary conservatism also gets more permanent. Wake up. the republicans, like rust, never sleep. They keep building from the school boards through a media takeover.
It's time to put Naderism to bed: we don't have a parliamentary system. Jeebus, sometimes I feel like I'm forced to watch an unending loop of the movie "Reds" where well meaning leftists are watching unimaginable blood and destruction yet can't quite admit they're aiding the destruction.
Posted by: pamelabrown | August 01, 2011 at 03:24 PM
On a tactical level, I think the deal could have been worse for the Democrats. $350B in defense cuts and the possibility of much more if the trigger is pulled is appealing. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, seemingly safe, at least until December. I think that, painted into a corner, Obama made the best he could of the situation.
The problem with Obama is he let himself be painted into the corner. He was too clever by half with his "leading from behind." Where I come from--America's Heartland, the East Village of Manhattan--that's known as "following." (And it's not working out so great in the Libyan war either.) He seemingly thinks if he's just nice enough to the Tea Partiers and Wall Street and reasons with them, then gosh, they'll eventually do the right thing and we'll all just get along. You know, like everybody got along at the Harvard Law Review. Please remember his press conference in December after the GOP rolled him on the Bush tax cuts--he expected the GOP would do the right thing re the debt ceiling.
I'm going to stay classy, take the high road here and not rub anyone's nose in the day's news. I know what disappointment is. I gave up hope in Obama in January 2009--early, I know!--when it was obvious he wasn't going to do anything meaningful to end Wall Street's rule. He wasn't going to do anything to capitalize on the justified populist rage over the bailouts; indeed he famously bragged about placing himself between Wall Street and the populist pitchforks--smart move! So from 740 Park Avenue the Koch boys whipped up an astroturf grassroots tea party to ride that populist wave and we got death panels and Obama got branded as the establishment elitist, which, let's be honest, he is. Btw--did you see the polls number last week of young, poor white voters? A scary reversal from the 2008 numbers. They are not happy with the Democrats. But can you blame them? At least the GOP offers them a gut-level outlet for their resentment. The Democrats? No job, no narrative, no uplifting oratory from the President. Nothing but the smell of unprincipled losers.
Posted by: wtf | August 01, 2011 at 07:05 PM
@Lyle Richardson: Yep, that's the story. And the disfunction in the GOP is only going to get worse. Either they nominate Michelle "I won't raise the debt ceiling" Bachman, or they nominate Mittens and watch for a third TP candidate (Bachman again, Palin?) They think Perry is their savior, but I think not.
Posted by: Robert | August 01, 2011 at 10:31 PM