Is the Center Right?
August 1, 2011 - by
If both Tea Party Republicans and Democratic liberals don’t like the debt deal, does that make it a good deal for America?
There is a line of thinking today that what is missing in politics is a “vital center” – those supposed wise men and women who find the right answer to our problems by navigating between the nuts of the left and right.
The Groundhog Day-like debt-ceiling debate heightens that way of thinking. Surely, the average American quoted on network TV says, the members of Congress should be able to get together and resolve things without such a long and unseemly battle.
But there is a fundamental divide on this issue: All cuts, or some tax increases? There’s no center in that choice.
Most Democrats in Congress want higher taxes, even if through the fig leaf of “tax reform.” Congressional liberals, then, are mad because the deal is all spending cuts.
On the other side, Tea Party Republicans are mad because…well, I haven’t figured that out yet. Because they won. They forced President Obama and congressional Democratic leaders to cave and give up on Obama’s “balanced approach.”
Politically, Democrats’ only hope now is that the Tea Party breaks all the china in the Capitol and defeats the deal. Then the Tea Party gets blamed for whatever chaos results.
But if the deal passes, the Tea Party wins either way. If the economy gets better, they claim credit. If it gets worse, they say the deal didn’t cut spending enough.
Elections, as they say, have consequences. The Tea Party won last November. So they’re winning in Washington this week.
They have moved the center to the right.
Is the Center Right?
August 1, 2011/
If both Tea Party Republicans and Democratic liberals don’t like the debt deal, does that make it a good deal for America?
There is a line of thinking today that what is missing in politics is a “vital center” – those supposed wise men and women who find the right answer to our problems by navigating between the nuts of the left and right.
The Groundhog Day-like debt-ceiling debate heightens that way of thinking. Surely, the average American quoted on network TV says, the members of Congress should be able to get together and resolve things without such a long and unseemly battle.
But there is a fundamental divide on this issue: All cuts, or some tax increases? There’s no center in that choice.
Most Democrats in Congress want higher taxes, even if through the fig leaf of “tax reform.” Congressional liberals, then, are mad because the deal is all spending cuts.
On the other side, Tea Party Republicans are mad because…well, I haven’t figured that out yet. Because they won. They forced President Obama and congressional Democratic leaders to cave and give up on Obama’s “balanced approach.”
Politically, Democrats’ only hope now is that the Tea Party breaks all the china in the Capitol and defeats the deal. Then the Tea Party gets blamed for whatever chaos results.
But if the deal passes, the Tea Party wins either way. If the economy gets better, they claim credit. If it gets worse, they say the deal didn’t cut spending enough.
Elections, as they say, have consequences. The Tea Party won last November. So they’re winning in Washington this week.
They have moved the center to the right.