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A liberal realism lies behind Obama’s tax deal

William Galston

Published: December 8 2010 23:34 | Last updated: December 8 2010 23:34 Continue reading →

Here is a pragmatic view of the Obama Tax cut deal. I’m inclined to agree with Mr. Lyons and my friend Victor who said Obama caved but that he moved the Republicans, in the bipartisan direction: the economic fate of millions of Americans and their families were most assuredly on the President’s mind and conscious when he made this decision. Even as a person on the left, the question must be the question of the welfare of our fellow citizens: even if we can argue that this is the result of political incompetence, timidity or miscalculation or that the Obama’s administration is, in sum, a maladroitly staged, and choreographed Clinton Restoration. The President got what he could; an exercise in the art of politics- the art of the possible!
For those who think that the Republican Machine will destroy Mr. Obama; take a look at this pathetic collection of sclerotic old white guys, that is the Republican Party of 2010. Their hubris is evident and the Tea Party Jacobins are ideological purists, that look upon the political as corrupt, prima facie, so the art of compromise is utterly out of reach, as a matter of ordinary pragmatism. Managing these anti-political purists will become a full time job for the Boehner/McConnell axis.The Jacobins will not have one iota of a problem breaking the eleventh commandment, of another decade of Republican resurgence.

“Seldom have so few gotten so much from so many.” That might be the motto of President Bush’s proposed tax cuts. Continue reading →