Krugman: Conceder In Chief

[Cali_Democrat]

July 22, 2011, 9:01 am
Conceder In Chief

Amanda Marcotte is right: of course the big problem is the craziness of the GOP. That said, I am among those in a state of suppressed rage and panic over the president’s negotiating strategy.

I’d like to believe that it’s all 11-dimensional political chess; but at this point — after the midterm debacle, after the big concession on taxes without even getting a raise in the debt limit — what evidence do we have that Obama knows what he’s doing?

...

1. Obama really just isn’t that into Democratic priorities. He really doesn’t much care about preserving Medicare for all seniors, keeping Social Security intact, and so on.

2. What he is into is his vision of himself as a figure who can transcend the partisan divide. He imagines that he can be the one who brings about a big transformation that settles disputes for decades to come — and has been unwilling to drop that vision no matter how many times the GOP shows itself utterly uninterested in anything except gaining the upper hand.

Read more...http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/conceder-in-chief/

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[ProSense]

2. "I hope I’m wrong about all this.

But when has Obama given progressives any reason to believe they can trust him?"

Krugman: "Guys, this is a major program to aid lower- and lower-middle-income families. How is that not a big progressive victory?"

"3. As a result, he can’t or won’t see what’s obvious to everyone else: that any Grand Bargain will last precisely as long as Democrats control the Senate and the White House, and will be torn up in favor of privatization and big tax cuts for the wealthy as soon as the GOP has the chance."

When is this ever not the case?

The President has an op-ed in USA Today.

[DirkGently]

3. Compromise at any cost? Every time Republicans refuse to be reasonable, they win. Which is .. always

[woolldog]

4. It just seems like Obama

is governing in a bubble...completely detached from what the majority of Americans want.

[swilton]

8. or who elected him.

Compromise is too kind of a word - he's collaborating with the opposition party and sabotaging the middle class....

[Palmer Eldritch]

5. So many words, so little meaning.

[blkmusclmachine]

6. Bait and switch in '08:

Pull off those blinders and see the truth.

[tritsofme]

7. Krugman has always been a better economist than political pundit.

[MissDeeds]

9. K&R

[Still Waters]

10. Number two in this blog is absolutely it. And his obsession with this is reaching Captain Ahab

levels.