ORourke1 Signature
"Anyone
who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for
people than people do is a swine."--P. J. O’Rourke
-------- Original Message --------
THIS TIME, TRIANGULATION'S NOT AN OPTION
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published in the New York Post on November 4, 2010
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Now that President Obama has experienced the same baptism of
fire as President Bill Clinton did in the 1994 midterm
elections, the obvious question is: Will he move to the center
in a bid to save his presidency and win re-election?
The move worked well for Clinton: He sought to combine the best
aspects of each party's program in a third approach that became
known as triangulation.
But Obama won't follow suit because he can't, even if he wants
to. Today's issues are different from those that separated the
parties in 1994 and don't lend themselves to common ground.
Obama's programs have been so far-reaching and fundamental that
any compromise would leave the nation far to the left of where
it's always been and wants to be. When he took office,
government (federal, state and local combined) controlled 35
percent of the US economy -- 15th among the two-dozen advanced
countries. Now, it controls 44.7 percent, ranking us 7th, ahead
of Germany and Britain. So where's the compromise -- leave
government in control of, say, 40 percent?
Add the overriding need for sharp deficit reduction, to bring
down the debt before it strangles our economy.
Republicans are pushing to begin this by rolling back spending
to pre-Obama levels. The alternative would be to raise taxes to
pay the bills run up by the Democratic Congress that the voters
just repudiated. Yet even partly covering that tab would lock in
a government that big -- hoarding capital, pouncing on all
available credit and taking away such a major portion of
national income -- would be anathema to our free-enterprise
system.
Yet a zero tax-hike policy will require budget cuts that Obama
and the left will find unacceptable.
Even with some tax hikes, the slashes in social spending needed
to start reducing the debt will also preclude a search for
middle ground.
What triangulation is possible on health care? The fundamental
building block of Obama's program is the individual mandate to
buy insurance. Absent that, all that's left is a
consumer-protection bill that limits insurance-company
practices. Yet the mandate can't be scaled back but still
preserved: It's either in place or it isn't. There's no middle
ground.
On "cap and trade," the other major pillar of Obama's secular
temple, either we tax carbon, or we don't. The left will deride
any program without coercion or tax increases (even though the
evidence suggests that voluntary measures are bringing down our
carbon emissions nicely). Again, faced with a choice between a
tax and no tax, there's no middle ground.
We can easily see how far Obama has moved off the center of
gravity of the American people by measuring his losses in the
House. If Republicans stick to their principles and pass their
programs in the House, they'll set forth an agenda that the
nation can follow. If they compromise to suit Obama's
big-government objectives, they'll muddy the waters, antagonize
their energetic base and provide no clear alternative to his
socialism.
It's time for bold, clear contrasts. It's not 1994.
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***COPYRIGHT EILEEN MCGANN AND DICK MORRIS 2010.
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