Instead of leaving people to

smithers_T — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 02:05:30 +0000

In reply to The Dangers of Obama’s Centrism

Instead of leaving people to purely speculate, I wish some people in Washington would act to demonstrate just who are and are not elitist party loyalists. Although there's no perfect solution for that, a good way to learn something (and I think there may not be another opportunity to test this for a while) would be to create a solution in the House of dollar for dollar cuts along party lines. Basically share the pain of cuts equally along party lines. That will test Republican intransigence while not requiring them to break their promise to the folks who put them in office. They'd have to satisfy their pledge to them in a way that also accommodates Democrats.

It would then go to Obama, and Obama's degree of intransigence would be tested. If he disapproves it for insistence that government must increase and not decrease or stay flat (even while the economy is shrinking or staying flat, and even while his own party Reps. have accepted) it would prove he's not an "accommodating centrist". Approving it though would avoid insolvency and disappoint fewer of his base than may otherwise be disappointed if Republicans made no concessions at all and/or insolvency were allowed.

T. Smithers

The ?plague on both their

Peter Schwartz — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:12:41 +0000

In reply to The Dangers of Obama’s Centrism

The “plague on both their houses” thesis is such an appealing narrative, particularly to hard-pressed Americans struggling to balance their own budgets, and already alienated from Washington by the regularly-reported depth of partisanship currently there.

In my experience, the speaker doesn't really understand the issue or the facts and figures, "as in most things," the truth lies somewhere "in between." He splits the baby because it's easier than figuring out what is true. He assumes the truth, if he bothered to look into, is shades of gray.

(And many cases, it really is hard to figure it out, especially when you're talking about specialized fields like economics.)

dagblog - Comments for "The Dangers of Obama’s Centrism"

Instead of leaving people to

The ?plague on both their