Open Thread: Who Is the Real Winner of Debt Deal?
Republicans and Democrats both seem to have come up short of a debt deal they really like. Many Republicans wanted more cuts, while many Democrats wanted more taxes on the rich. Both sides technically got something good out of the deal, but neither side is satisfied. One person that might have emerged as a winner, though, is President Obama, who supported a deal that will push any fiscal problems until after the 2012 election. Do you think he emerges victorious from the debt debates? Let us know what you think in the comments. As explained on RedState , Conservatives will find (or have found) that tax increases and defense cuts are indeed on the table as the fiscal debate continues. Liberals are dismayed that the sacred status of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid was not enshrined in first-order language. They fear that cuts may be made to these programs. (Of course, they need not worry, but they will.) What the weeks of fighting ultimately boiled down to was politics, and it seems the only person who didn't have to concede loss was President Obama. Unlike Republicans, many of whom were trying to reign in spending on entitlement programs, and unlike Democrats, many of whom were preaching a shared sacrifice tax increase, Obama only had two objectives to pass in a debt deal. From RedState, Obama wanted, 1) To get Republicans to propose specific spending cuts that Democrats can use against them in the coming elections, while not making any such proposals himself; and 2) To silence the fiscal debate until after his election in 2012. He won on both these counts, while no member of Congress can say they won everything they wanted. There are potential tax increases, defense spending cuts, and ongoing funding to entitlement programs, and no real solutions to Washington's actual spending problems. Do you think Obama's real interest was in increasing his chances at re-election? Or do you think the only possible debt deal that could have come out of a split Congress is one like this?
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Open Thread: Who Is the Real Winner of Debt Deal?
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on August 2, 2011. Filed under