Thank you, Robert Kuttner
by digby
Two years ago, the Democrats handed the Republicans their two crown jewels — Social Security and Medicare. By targeting Medicare for budget “savings” that could be used to finance what the Republicans called Obamacare, the White House gave the GOP ammunition to contend that the Democrats were taking benefits away from seniors.
Expanding health coverage for the young and defense of Medicare for the elderly got depicted as a zero sum game. Republicans made huge gains in 2010 with seniors. Instead of the political winner it should have been, Obamacare became an epithet.
Then, in the aborted grand budget bargain of 2011, Obama was so eager to achieve a compromise on mostly Republican terms that he very nearly agreed to needless cuts in Social Security. Only Republican intransigence on any kind of tax hikes saved the president from himself — or more precisely from his deficit-hawk advisers.
Now, however, Republicans have given Social Security and Medicare back to the Democrats (where they belong.) Polls show that Medicare is no longer a winner for the Republicans, and the Democrats have embraced the term, “Obamacare” as positive label.
The reason, of course, is Paul Ryan.
That’s right. In order to run against his program they had to … run against his program. But as Kuttner says, this is not time to be complacent:
But never underestimate the Democrats’ capacity for snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.
Lurking in the wings is the latest reincarnation of Bowles-Simpson, the bipartisan zombie that refuses to die. A “Fix the Debt” campaign,” chaired by none other than Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, has become the darling of the centrist media and of Wall Street.
The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the National Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, several leading Democratic deficit hawks, and some 70 corporate CEOs have pledged to raise $50 to 100 million dollars in corporate money for this latest campaign, which promotes yet another a grand bargain of tax increases and cuts in Social Security and other social spending.
Bowles continues to be touted as Obama’s next Treasury Secretary when Tim Geithner finally (mercifully!) calls it a day. Other Democrats who are part of this effort are former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, who was chair of the Democratic National Committee in 2000, and former Democratic Congressman Vic Fazio, who once headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Rounding out this group of Democrats doing Republicans’ bidding on fiscal issues are former Georgia Senator Samm Nunn and Wall Streeter and former Obama official Steve Rattner.
Shame!
I did not watch Meet the Press this week, so I mercifully missed the Simpson-Bowles circus. I’m glad I did. I don’t need the heartburn. This alone is sickening:
Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, co-chairs of the president’s fiscal commission and widely hailed as serious thought leaders on dealing with the country’s economic problem, had strong criticisms for both men vying to be President of the United States for the next four years.
As Kuttner points out, they are hailed as “serious thought leaders” by the corporate media (and wealthy celebrity villagers who will benefit from their agenda.) The rest of us, not so much.
Everyone loves Simpson, by the way, for taking the Republicans to task for not agreeing to raise taxes. But that leaves off the other half of his critique which is against the greedy geezers who don’t want to wait until their in the grave to get Social Security and Medicare.
Once again we see the real divide: it’s between people who want to cut the hell out of vital government services in the middle of an epic economic slump and people who want to cut the hell out of vital government services in the middle of an economic slump but are willing to kick in some tip money to appease the rubes. The desires of the people — much less the needs of the economy — simply aren’t on the table.
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