A Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that 69% of Americans (including many liberal Democrats) support the highly touted and in some circles highly condemned tax deal hammered out last week by President Barack Obama and GOpers in Congress. So much for the outrage on the left, Tea Party members upset on the right, ideological talk shows that suggested it will eventually fail, and left and right blogs that consider it a sell out. The poll suggests once again that there is a center in American politics — it may shift, but it is a center. And the poll could mean Congressional Republicans will do some modest compromises when they can but not call it that and that Obama will increasingly feel he has nothing to lose by taking on his party’s liberal base.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.