"They’ve moved in other words, the Senate Majority Leader, far in their direction."
-- George Will, here
An excellent point, the premise of which is that politics is the art of the possible.
In point of fact not just once, either. The extension of the Bush tax rates from this crowd of left wing fanatics was no mean achievement.
The Tea Party speaks for many in wanting the deficit spending to stop. In view of the fact that deficit spending and enthusiasm for taxation are the cornerstones of the opposition, getting Democrats to relent on taxes late last year and again now is pretty good for just 20 or 30 fiscal extremists in the US House.
It should remind us all that imagination is important to political success. Michael Steele didn't have any in early 2010 when he opined that Republicans probably couldn't take back the House. Boy was he mistaken.
It would be a mistake to stop imagining that we can reduce spending. The only caveat is whether Obama possesses enough character to refrain from defaulting on the debt. If he doesn't and does default, it could be blamed on overreaching by the Tea Party.
At a minimum, Obama's persistent extreme rhetoric threatening such a default should trouble more people. Even left of center types here and there are upset by his behavior, which is a good sign. It is nothing short of disgraceful that a president should talk this way, and it gives everyone over the age of forty pause.
I say that's a tactic, not a promise. Obama is going outside the experience of the enemy, one of Alinsky's rules.
The Tea Party should keep pressing the issue. And Republicans need to buck up and go on the rhetorical offensive. The farthest they should go is a clean debt ceiling increase of $1 trillion, which buys more time but doesn't give the president the space he wants, and needs.
The next crisis date is October 1, by which time we must have a budget agreed to by the Democrats to fund the next fiscal year.
