ON THE DEBT CEILING DEAL!
A lot of the commentary seems to assume that the battle is over. DON'T COUNT ON IT! Many liberals in the House and Senate will oppose this deal -- and (as the WSJ article below suggests) don't be surprised if Boehner still faces opposition from close to half his caucus.
Washington Strikes a Deal: Ractions from the Daily Beast
"President Obama announced a debt compromise had been reached that will cut $2.4 trilion over 10 years—but will lawmakers fall in line? Michael Tomasky, Eleanor Clift, Peter Beinart, and more Daily Beast contributors weigh in."
After Protracted Fight, Both Sides Emerge Bruised from the New York Times
"The president, with his re-election on the horizon, emerges from the showdown in a diminished state after giving considerable ground and struggling to rise above a deep partisan intransigence that has engulfed Washington. And Republican leaders, especially Speaker John A. Boehner, are bruised after navigating the intractable sentiment of the Tea Party movement."
Again, Boehner Needs Votes from the Wall Street Journal
"The emerging debt-ceiling deal will be the ultimate test for House Speaker John Boehner, who has struggled all year long to corral his large but raucous Republican majority."
Black Caucus, Progressives to Oppose Debt Deal from Raw Story
"“This deal does not even attempt to strike a balance between more cuts for the working people of America and a fairer contribution from millionaires and corporations,” Progressive Caucus leader Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) said in a statement Sunday night. “I will not be a part of it.” The Black Caucus Sunday released a letter urging Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment and take the debt crisis into his own hands, something the president had said he was unwilling to do."
What to Worry About Now That We May Have a Debt Deal from the National Journal
"In light of this almost agreement, here are a couple of things to feel good about: ... Now for some things to worry about, before we start going into withdrawal:..."
The Debt-Ceiling Deal: Winners and Losers (Chris Cillizza) from the Washington Post
"The political stakes for this fight were massive — and it produced a number of winners and losers. Our take on the best and the worst is below."
Normally, I find myself at least close to the same page as Mr. Cillizza. Not this time. A majority of those he pegs as winners will, in my view, enjoy few fruits from their labors. There is no way Obama came out of this crisis a winner -- and everything in his tone and body language says that he knows this to be the case. Conservative David Frum summarizes the situation very concisely HERE. On the one hand, Obama sustained enormous damage in the eyes of his base while the Tea Party (another group pegged as a winner) sustained enormous damage in the eyes of most voters who were NOT their base. Grover Norquist (another supposed winner) held the line against new revenues -- but the US electorate has SUBSTANTIALLY moved on the issue of taxation, more in the last six weeks in my view than in the last thirty years. The Democratic Party and Obama in particular comes out of this crisis damaged and with no clear pathway how to actually sell either the deal (in the short term) or themselves and any coherent economic program in 2012. What exactly are they to say they are going to do to combat joblessness and the recession? This debt ceiling deal undercuts virtually every possible argument they could make. It reminds me of TARP all over again. Obama does what he has to do to save the economy -- but at enormous political cost and in a fashion that will leave lots of voters upset.
The Obama as winner argument is reiterated here:
Did Obama Capitulate — or is This a Cagey Move? (Peter Wallstein and David Nakamura) from the Washington Post
"Most important for the president, the agreement struck Sunday averted a government default — an outcome that probably would have hurt the U.S. economy and added to voters’ frustrations with Obama’s leadership."
Major Garrett has his own list of winners and losers here and I think it is closer to the mark:
The Deal: Where They Won And Where They Lost (Major Garrett) from the National Journal
"It's a deal that neither particularly likes, has taken a toll on everyone's popularity and cast a pall over the U.S. economy. Clearly, it's not enough to satisfy Obama or Republicans. Judging from the sagging poll numbers for all the combatants, though, it is the public that will probably have this one word reaction. Enough."
Jobs Market Worst For Middle Class from Time Magazine
"Recessions often narrow the income gap. This recession has done the opposite. The study, which was authored by NELP's Annette Bernhardt, found that by far the bulk of the jobs lost, 60%, were in the middle range of the income scale."
Al Jazeera English Launches In New York City from the Huffington Post
"Six months after New York City news junkies flocked to Al Jazeera English’s website for up-to-the-second coverage of the Egyptian uprising, they’ll now have a chance to watch the 24-hour news network on its original platform: television."
For the sake of a diverse news media, this is GOOD NEWS!
Drug Could Make Aging Brains More Youthful? from National Geographic
"Declining neural activity can be revved up in older brains, monkey study hints."
BIN LADEN RAID NUGGET!!
Getting Bin Laden: What Happened that Night in Abbottabad from the New Yorker
"No American was yet inside the residential part of the compound. The operatives had barely been on target for a minute, and the mission was already veering off course."
OSCAR WILDE NUGGET!!
Deceptive Picture: How Oscar Wilde Painted Over "Dorian Gray" (Alex Ross) from the New Yorker
OOscar Wilde was not a man who lived in fear, but early reviews of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” must have given him pause."
WORLD WAR II PHOTO NUGGET!!
World War II: New Images of Pearl Harbor from the Atlantic
"The entire preemptive attack was over within 90 minutes, and in that time, the Japanese sunk four battleships and two destroyers, destroyed 188 aircraft, and damaged even more buildings, ships and airplanes (two of the battleships were later raised and returned to service). Some 2,400 Americans were killed in the attack; another 1,250 were injured, and a huge shock was dealt to United States."
These newly released images are absolutely breath-taking!!
No comments:
Post a Comment