Trading spaces, kabuki style
by digby
This piece in the New York Times reveals nothing new — everything still fluid, who knows what’s really going on. But this struck me as unhelpful:
Democrats, led by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, have repeatedly said they will not negotiate over reopening the government or raising the debt ceiling. But privately, a growing number of them said they have come to the realization that to insist on giving nothing to Republicans at all is a bargaining position they may be unable to maintain.
What they give and how a compromise could be structured so it allows the president and Democratic leaders to say credibly that they have not reversed their hard-line position is unclear. White House officials said the president would be willing to sign a short-term increase in the debt ceiling and then negotiate on larger budget issues, but not if the two were explicitly linked.
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of a handful of Republicans who often reaches across the aisle, said Mr. Obama told them he would be willing to “trade” something in exchange for their cooperation.
“He said ‘space for trading,’ ” Ms. Murkowski said. “So apparently we are not talking about negotiation, we’re talking about some trading space.”
It doesn’t matter if the two are “explictly linked.” They’re linked. Unless the president can extract some kind of ironclad agreement to never do this again, which is impossible, the whole thing will end up being a kabuki spectacle that rewards the craziest dancer.
Personally, I don’t see how it could ever have worked — once the dam on the debt ceiling was broken in 2011, I think this was bound to happen. The Republicans will have to lose and lose big, and explicitly because they become so out of the mainstream that even some of their own voters decide they’re too nuts to be elected before this fanatical behavior stops. Until that happens, I think Democrats have to start being a little bit more strategic and wield their power more effectively than they have been. These people are nuts and kabuki dances pretending to “win” when you didn’t actually win isn’t going to cut it.
I have to think, however, that even on a kabuki level, Democrats whispering to reporters that they “recognize” that they’re going to have to compromise after they’ve made such a huge deal out of never giving in probably isn’t the best idea. It’s hard for me to believe that came from the leadership or the White House because it would be completely ridiculous at this point.
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