Yet Another Dope Roped
by The Magicial Sky Father
In the 2008 campaign Barack Obama caused a great deal of fear among his supporters, especially amongst those that preferred a different candidate to face Republicans. The Republican party would rail against him and he refused to react. Sitting quietly above the fray as the Republican party shifted from accusation to shrill indictments he would wait. The Democratic party meanwhile began reacting against the claims all while also turning on the soon to be POTUS and dubbing him “Obambi.” When the shrill reached a fevered pitch he would calmly send a well designed punch across the air waves that sent his competitor against the ropes.
This strategy, commonly known as the rope-a-dope, became an Obama signature. He would allow the GOP to paint him as an extremist until the caricature reached a level of detail easily disassembled and then he would attack it with both barrels.
The GOP and the Democratic party always reacted in stunned disbelief. They had both defined who this man was and in the end they were always proven wrong not only to the political class and high information voters but more importantly in the eyes of the larger voting public.
Our first black president did not make it to the big chair by being black and he did not make it there by being a Democratic nominee, he made it there by being one of the best politicians in the nations history. He had that amazing knack of turning what most would see as his negatives into positives and this was mostly done by allowing those that would dare to define him incorrectly to back themselves into a corner of their own creation. That is why as reports surface of a shift in the debt ceiling debate, long after Republicans and Democrats alike were busy painting yet another caricature of an empty suit, I personally was unsurprised when our President trumped the GOP’s call for 2.4 trillion deficit reduction deal with a new target of 4 trillion.
The GOP had worked itself into a frenzy and had done so publicly enough that they were losing the information war. The GOP’s desire to focus purely on cuts and deny any new revenue was accepted by only the most extreme partisans in their own party. This is when in classic political form they turned to shrill since any retreat would leave them looking like fools.
The Democratic noise machine had begun preparing the path to use of the 14th amendment and in many ways had won the PR battle by making it obvious that they were willing to compromise but the GOP was not. Meanwhile hidden in the current deficit reduction debate was a plan named Bowles-Simpson which was a bipartisan share the pain approach to resolving our fiscal mess that so horrified both parties that it was immediately ignored. A few on the political fringe, like myself and many others of mixed political persuasion, carried the torch of Bowles-Simpson and railed against those that wanted to resolve the problem according only to their preferred ideology.
This new plan may not be Bowles-Simpson but with a share the pain ethos it is crawling ever closer. For all that railed against the POTUS for not jumping on that train soon enough I would only say that a plan that caused both parties to give so very much could only come from a crises and thankfully it seems that the GOP carefully crafted one and our POTUS was wise enough to wait until the crises had reached such a fevered pitch that such a plan was possible.
Let us take a moment and consider political history.
President Nixon was actually a rather interesting political animal. He lacked warmth and though many like what he did and the results of his policies and ideas he often lacked people that actually liked him. Some of this is because Nixon was not an ideologue as president. Though he may have held very extreme views he accepted the reality that though the political tides were shifting he still lived in a nation with a largely liberal electorate. This is why Nixon was a deal maker.
The Democratic party missed chance after chance to make deals by misreading the electorate and thinking that they would soon be back in the drivers seat. Their ideology and the blindness it caused could not understand the wave that was headed their way within a decade. They passed up a health care deal that was well to the left of what Clinton offered in the 90’s and that was well to the left of what we ended up getting a decade later.
Every time health care reform was discussed for forty years Democratic supporters were bludgeoned with the hubris of those that refused to make that deal and for better or worse it was laid at Ted Kennedy’s feet when the blame was assigned.
When a president is a deal maker, it was argued, it is in the opposing parties best interests to take what they can get since that may be their last chance. This argument was made over and over during the discussions of the ACA when the GOP supporters thought it would never pass, which of course in the end it did. Now we are having a moment where we get to see if the GOP and their supporters can learn from their own advice. The Democratic party has offered major cuts but they left out their own sacred cows just like the GOP did. In the media the 3/1 cuts for revenue increases has been wonderful public relations for the Democratic party in the run up to the 2012 election but they seem to have forgotten that President Obama though often taking the slow road is a President with a proven history of tackling big issues.
As the GOP’s own opinion writers began to scream that a 3 to 1 deal was actually the deal of the century and prior to any real movement being visible within the GOP’s elected officials talking points President Obama threw down a gauntlet that hit like a nuclear first strike.
The Republican field of candidates are on the record with their views. The Republican and Democratic party leaders have also made their arguments that have been well documented and now here comes Mr Rope-A-Dope yet again tearing down their straw man playhouse. President Obama has now offered to put entitlements on the table mixed with revenue increases to almost double the amount of deficit reduction that the GOP has requested, he has yet again out Republicaned the Republicans. This means they are now set to accept a deal that will include revenue increases, and likely primarily from their beloved top 1% or they have to pass on a deal they are unlikely to see again.
Many problems exist in making such a deal.
First this will likely solidify Obama’s 2012 election whether a deal is reached or not. With this political master stroke if a deal is not reached the argument against invoking the 14th amendment will look a great deal less valid in the eyes of the public. The GOP will have refused a deal that is to the right of their current stance and forced the nation into default over a juvenile refusal to compromise.
Obama again has positioned himself as the man that stands between the nation and the extreme wings of the Republican and Democratic party.
Another problem with such a deal is that this will likely anger the Republican base from those who have to give more to uncle Sam to those that are in the age group to actually receive those entitlements. The most worrisome thing it does is that it destroys the current GOP narrative of both their desire to protect and destroy those entitlement programs, the message shifts by member and who they are speaking to.
With a President that looks so very center right it sucks motivation from the GOP base which results in lower voter turn out for a nominee that does not inspire them, which currently seems to be the only thing on offer. It also may shift many GOP voters that voted for Obama back into his corner for the 2012 election which may result in a lot larger win than otherwise possible and coattails could greatly impact the House as well as Senate races that the GOP is counting on even if Obama wins. All while ensuring a primary for each GOP member that votes for the plan by an even more extreme ideologue.
In short the only thing more dangerous to the GOP than agreeing to this deal is to not.
Not agreeing to such a deal will cause a major public relations problem for the GOP as it turns away from actually reforming entitlements AND cutting spending due to their obsession with tax cuts. Watching how the blogosphere reacted to the current debate I became rather sure that the GOP would make a deal. All but the most extreme voices were already calling for it but prior to them being able to reposition publicly Obama just threw a trump card the size of a 4 trillion dollar bill. This will make it very difficult for the GOP to accept without looking like they have lost a war by winning a battle.
The caricature of the President they had so carefully crafted has yet again been shattered into a trillion tiny pieces.
“The Magical Sky Father resides in Portland, OR his own little city on the hill where he longs to work at Powell’s and soaks up the liquid sunshine like a native. Personal politics are Libertarian Socialist or as he likes to put it a balanced extremist. He sits atop his rain cloud typing angry rants into the blogosphere trying to keep the balance in his extreme’s.”