Democrats
mikethemadbiologist | March 28, 2011Matthew Yglesias makes a good point about budget negotiations--their intransigence on tax increases means that, at least in the House, the budget is entirely up to the Republicans:
Under these circumstances, there's nothing to negotiate about and nothing presidential leadership can achieve. If Republican leaders don't want to agree to any revenue increases, that's their prerogative, but willingness to compromise on revenue is the sine qua non of a bipartisan deal. Absent that willingness, there neither can nor will be a bipartisan deal so there's nothing for the president to say or do.
The…
mikethemadbiologist | February 20, 2011By now, you might have heard about how the Wisconsin Senate Democrats have fled the state in order to prevent a bill from passing, supported by Republican Governor Scott Walker, that would cripple public sector unions (if it's about redressing the budget, then why does the bill deal with union dues, which have nothing to do with the budget?). Before I address the title of the post, I want to comment on the Democratic tactics. Despite conservative/Republican bleating, including one commentor on this post, the Democrats have done nothing illegal. They are playing by the rules, just as…
mikethemadbiologist | February 18, 2011One reason why Republicans have piled scorn and hatred on House Minority Leader, and former House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi is that she is not part of the house-broken wing of the Democratic Party. She's definitely no saint--and taking impeachment hearings off the table and joining Obama in his 'moving forward, not looking backward' bullshit was a bad, bad political move*. But, unlike most professional Democrats, she seems to understand the fundamental nature (not to mention, fundamentalist) of the Republican opposition (italics mine):
"They are at a different philosophical place," she said,…
mikethemadbiologist | February 17, 2011I wish national Democrats and their hangers-on had half the guts the Wisconsin Senate Democrats do. If you haven't heard, Wisconsin's Republican governor Scott Walker is attempting to strip public sector unions of their collective bargaining rights. This comes on top of other recent stupidities by Walker, including turning down $810 million in risk-fee construction funds for high-speed rail.
The Wisconsin Senate Democrats have decided to stop the legislation by not showing up to the vote:
...State Senate Democrats are refusing to show up at the state capitol to prevent the measure to strip…
mikethemadbiologist | February 15, 2011Last week, The National Journal broke the story, since confirmed by other sources, that the Obama administration plans to cut billions of dollars from the LIHEAP program that subsidizes energy costs for the needy (italics mine):
President Obama's proposed 2012 budget will cut several billion dollars from the government's energy assistance fund for poor people, officials briefed on the subject told National Journal....
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, would see funding drop by about $2.5 billion from an authorized 2009 total of $5.1 billion. The proposed cut will not…
mikethemadbiologist | January 31, 2011The most awful thing about the proposed bill, "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" (H.R. 3), is, well, the bill itself:
With this legislation, which was introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to "forcible rape." This would rule out federal assistance for abortions in many rape cases, including instances of statutory rape, many of which are non-forcible. For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion....
Given that the bill also would…
mikethemadbiologist | January 28, 2011Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne recently wrote this about Obama which puzzled me:
An Obama who roared straight ahead hit a political wall. This next Obama is using finesse and subtlety to get to the same place.
Roared straight ahead? Obama? Yes, he appointed two not-batshit-lunatic Supreme Court Justices. But economically, how different would he have been than a Republican? Maybe there would have been more tax cuts and less spending in the ARRA, but even Republicans would have done something. Consider:
What do the American economy and economic policy look like right now on that…
mikethemadbiologist | January 27, 2011It would be for the best.
First, some general thoughts. I had the distinct sense Obama was trying to run the clock out. He knew he had to say something, but has no room to maneuver. Thanks to his mediocre first two years and his enabling of conservative talking points (which one wonders if that's not strategic, but ideological), the Democrats lost control of the House and have been boxed into a corner rhetorically. Related to that, he set the stage over and over again to box Republicans in, but then he mostly chickened out and rarely offered concrete proposals that would put them in a…
sastyk | January 26, 2011The good news is that everyone was more or less happy about Obama's stated energy policy last night. The Republicans were happy because Obama was talking about a "clean standard" which actually means "let's burn fossil fuels in a barely less harmful way" - ie, let's switch some dirty coal to natural gas, and pretend that "clean" coal is a reality, and that nuclear plants will come online rapidly and without massive subsidies. The Democrats were happy because some Republicans might tolerate a "clean energy" standard that takes emphasis off solar and wind. And everyone was happy because we'…
mikethemadbiologist | January 2, 2011While I don't agree with Mike Konczal that Obama's greatest disappointment is his inability to lose well, for me, it's probably the second greatest disappointment (the greatest being the inability to focus on the employment deficit). At least, I did agree, but now I'm pretty certain I don't.
A while ago, I wrote about the strategic importance of losing:
This is something that the too-smart-for-their-own-good Democratic political operatives and their progressive apologists always fail to understand: you have to create your own opportunities for good politics. If you think a policy is a good…
mikethemadbiologist | January 1, 2011The largest political battle, barring something really stupid coming along, in the next few months will be over the attempt to raise the federal debt limit. While it sounds boring, it's critical to every budget item, including science funding. Without increasing the federal debt limit, the U.S. would default on its debt (as well as be unable to pay for all of the allocated federal spending). Keep in mind this federal debt limit is absolutely artificial: since the U.S. has a sovereign and fiat currency, this is a self-imposed constraint. We could set the debt limit to any amount or even…
mikethemadbiologist | December 29, 2010Before Congress took off before the Christmas break, they actually managed to do something productive and pass the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" act, which banned open gays and lesbians from serving in the U.S. military. Unfortunately, the DREAM Act, which would have allowed undocumented students brought to America as children to obtain a path to citizenship through higher education or military service, did not pass (MEXICANISTS!!! AAAIIEEEE!!!!). To me, there's a very simple lesson from this: if you don't make the Democratic Party miserable, they won't do what you want.
If you…
mikethemadbiologist | December 6, 2010I don't mean to get all Bob Somerby on you, but Frank Rich's Sunday op-ed is ridiculous. Obama isn't acquiescing to Republican demands because he's suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or some other deep-seated psychological malady. That's clearly overthinking the problem.
It's far more basic than that--Obama's gall can be divided into three parts:
1) He really believes that the country needs to be less partisan, and become more bipartisan. Without this, the country will be suffer. He would rather negotiate with the lunatic than be partisan.
2) He is a Rockefeller Republican. That is, he…
mikethemadbiologist | December 5, 2010Someone tell me how Ian Welsh's assessment of Obama is incorrect (italics mine):
Nor is he a Nixonian or Eisenhower Republican, that would put him massively to the left of where he is and to the left of the majority of the Democratic party. Instead his a Reaganite, something he told people repeatedly....
That isn't to say Obama may or may not be a wimp, but he always compromises right, never left and his compromises are minor. He always wanted tax cuts. He gave away the public option in private negotiations near the beginning of the HCR fight, not the end. He never even proposed an…
mikethemadbiologist | December 4, 2010He will cave, of course, but this is the right idea:
And before people start pissing and moaning about 'weakening Obama' (he's done a very good job of that all by his lonesome), remember that he and his surrogates kept quoting FDR who told his left-leaning supporters, "You have to make me do it."
That's what the PCCC is doing with this ad.
mikethemadbiologist | December 1, 2010...I bet you thought I was going to write something like, "....doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Nope. Regarding the federal worker pay freezes, David Weigel notes:
The letter from OFA director Mitch Stewart points out -- accurately -- that Obama froze White House staff salaries on his first day in office. And as we all remember, that move prevented the subsequent rise of an anti-spending conservative movement that would imperil Obama's agenda and win the 2010 elections.
Although I do think Larry Summers should have to give back some of his salary…
mikethemadbiologist | November 30, 2010Nothing at all. Here's what I don't get about Obama's proposal to freeze federal workers' salaries: he got nothing in return. Just like he did with healthcare.
Nothing.
And he is out of his fucking skull if he thinks either the Republicans or the Very Serious People are going to give him credit for this. All they will do is say this is a good start, and then demand even more. Oops, we find that this isn't even called a good start, but only a token one.
Is there anyone at the White House who has ever negotiated for anything? I can understand bargaining this away (I wouldn't be happy…
mikethemadbiologist | November 26, 2010Anyone who follows politics regularly is aware of the phenomenon of the voter who "wants the government to stay out of my Medicare" (Medicare is a government program). But a huge fraction of recipients of government aid do not believe they have received government aid. I'll get to why I think that's the case in a bit, but first consider this chart:
Like I mentioned, mind-boggling.
How can 43% of those who received a Pell Grant--college aid--not know that it came from the government? Not only is it all over the grant application forms, but, presumably, at least some of the recipients were…
mikethemadbiologist | November 23, 2010A while ago, I finished reading Adrian Goldsworthy's How Rome Fell. While there are far too many inane comparisons between the Late Roman Empire and the U.S., this summary of Goldsworthy's thesis seems appropriate (italics mine):
That is not to say that the latter emperors were more selfish, but simply that they could never be as secure. Many may have had the best of intentions to rule well, but the government of the empire became first and foremost about keeping the emperor in power - and at lower levels, about the individual advantage of bureaucrats and officers.
The Late Roman Empire was…
mikethemadbiologist | November 18, 2010Because it's the sucker's play.
So Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky--a real Democrat, not a Very Serious fiscal 'conservative'--has released her own deficit plan. It's a perfectly good plan: the numbers add up (no magic asterisks, such as 'we will lower Medicare expenses [somehow]'), and as policy, even if one weren't concerned about deficit reduction, it's pretty good.
But, as I've argued before, going along with this deficit reduction mania is a rigged game.
Look, if this whole deficit reduction horseshit doesn't just blow away with the next televised national disaster or missing…