Yet Another Pyrrhic Victory for Obama
Premature Capitulation
By MICHAEL WINSHIP
There's
this old joke about the French Revolution. A group of prisoners is
lined up before the guillotine. One by one, their heads are lopped off.
Then, the next man is put in place. The lever is pulled, but the blade
stops just inches above his neck. This must be a sign of divine
intervention, the judge in charge declares, and the man is freed.
The same thing happens to the next prisoner, and
the next and the next. Finally, as the very last man is prepared for
execution, he looks up at the mechanism and exclaims, "Wait! I think I
see your problem!"
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you President Barack
Obama, providing needless aid and comfort to those who would do him
wrong, handing over his own head without a fight, afflicted with a
curious syndrome we men of science have decided to call Premature
Capitulation.
Backing away from myriad campaign promises, giving
in to health care, economic stimulus and financial reform compromises --
in some ways these were par for the course, the unfortunate price of
governing and politics in a polarized America. But in the few weeks
since the midterm elections, the affliction of Premature Capitulation
has become more and more endemic, whether it's dissembling on our policy
in Afghanistan or backing away from a moratorium on settlement building
in the West Bank, announcing a Federal workers' wage freeze (which
would have been appropriate for the higher ranking civil servants but is
pandering to the right and downright cruel to those government
employees who barely make enough to live on) or the continued kowtow to
the moneyed interests who, if they pat him on the back, do so only to
find the place to insert their knives.
And now this deal to extend the Bush tax cuts for
two years, continuing breaks for the wealthiest Americans, as well as a
similar extension of the capital gains top rate – 15% -- and a raise of
the estate tax exemption to $5 million per person, with a maximum rate
of 35%. In exchange, Obama is supposed to get a 13-month extension of
unemployment benefits for the long term jobless, an expanded
earned-income tax credit, equipment purchase write-offs for businesses, a
reduction in the Social Security payroll tax and continuation of the
college tuition tax credit.
Not so bad, you may think; in fact, many are
viewing what Obama has gotten as a de facto second stimulus, but chances
are Republicans would have yielded to public pressure on unemployment,
especially during the holiday season, and as James Kwak points out on
The Baseline Scenario website (which he founded with economist Simon
Johnson),
"The Bush tax cuts were always bad policy. After
the last election, President Obama will be able to accomplish precious
little. But he could easily have killed the Bush tax cuts and thereby
done more good for our nation's fiscal situation than anyone will be in a
position to do for many years to come. Killing the tax cuts would alone
reduce the national debt by roughly as much as the deficit commission's
entire proposal. And killing the tax cuts was the path of least
resistance. Obama could have done it by doing nothing. Or he could have
done it by taking a strong negotiating position and being willing to
walk away from the table…
"Instead we got a two-year extension as part of
an overall package that adds $900 billion to the debt… And Obama will no
longer be able to say the tax cuts were a mistake made by President
Bush that he was letting expire. Now he owns the mistake."
What's more, while the president's brief
announcement of the deal Monday night was matter of fact, the press
conference on Tuesday – calling out progressives as sanctimonious
purists -- was a defensive display of petulance more appropriate to the
sandbox than the White House.
Mr. President, up to now at least, progressives
have been the loyal opposition. You're wasting ammo on the wrong guys.
Stand up, aim in the right direction, and fight.
Because if you think the tax breaks will lead to
further logrolling or concessions from congressional Republicans you're
wrong. Now that they've gotten what they want, for the next two years of
your term they will not yield much of anything else. Their nihilistic,
scorched earth brand of politics leaves nothing behind but ash.
And so this latest compromise may prove a Pyrrhic victory. Or is that being
premature?
Michael Winship is senior writer at Public Affairs Television in New York
City.
http://www.counterpunch.org/winship12102010.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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