Merely
The real reason for White House fury at S&P is that it realizes how symbolically damaging this downgrade is to President Obama's economic record. Democrats can rail all they want about the tea party, but Republicans have controlled the House for a mere seven months. The entire GOP emphasis in those seven months—backed by the tea party—has been on reversing the historic spending damage of Mr. Obama's first two years. (WSJ, 8/8/2011)
It has occurred to us that Liberals are outraged at the Tea Party because......Liberals lost the argument! All the talk about how the Tea Party "held the country hostage" is merely a smokescreen for their furor at having lost the debate. Meanwhile President Obama's speech today on the S&P downgrade talked about the need to create jobs for construction workers. It was absolutely bizarre. For a moment, we almost thought he was going to say "shovel-ready."
Three Part Harmony
The liberal agenda came in three parts: First, raise taxes on high-income Americans to limit domestic spending cuts; second, protect the social “safety net,” especially Social Security and Medicare; and finally, cut defense spending to spare (again) domestic programs.
Liberals got two of three. They failed on taxes, the Republicans’ litmus test. But they prevailed elsewhere. Social Security, Medicare and most benefits (food stamps, Medicaid) for the poor, regardless of age, were put off-limits. (Robert Samuelson, Washington Post, 8/7/2011)
Samuelson's take - on the other hand - is that Liberals won. Whether or not you believe that, one thing is abundantly clear. That is the utter gutlessness of Democrats in refusing to acknowledge the long-term unsustainability of entitlement spending. They would turn America into a welfare state if left unchecked.
No comments:
Post a Comment