Over at the Washington Post, Chris Cillizza breaks down the winners and losers in the debt deal. Here are a few of his winners
Tea party: There were major questions coming into the 112th Congress about who would blink first — the largely establishment-aligned leaders of the new Republican House majority or the tea-party-aligned freshman members. We got our answer to that question late Thursday as House Speaker John Boehner was forced not only to postpone his compromise bill but ultimately to add conservative sweeteners to get the 217 votes he needed. (He got 218.) The tea party — inside and outside Congress — will almost certainly be emboldened by the result of this fight.
Those damned terrorist hostage taking TEA Party representatives representing those darned un-American TEA Party members who simply want to reduce government spending and want to work to make sure our economy doesn’t collapse like Greece’s.
President Obama: The president needed a deal of some sort to prove that he was capable of making the government work — even if it took until the eleventh (and a half) hour to strike the compromise. Liberals are likely to be deeply unhappy about the nature of the deal, which includes no increases in taxes or revenue. But remember that Obama’s target constituency in 2012 is not his base but rather independent and moderate voters. And those fence-sitters love compromise in almost any form.
Um, what? I guess you can put him in the winners category a tiny bit, but, sorry, Chris, you are really stretching. Obama belongs more in the losers category. He didn’t get his job killing tax increases. He looked ineffective and marginalized, giving the same speeches, offering no specifics, then being shoved out of the way by John Boehner and Harry Reid. People with corporate jets still get to keep the same tax break they got from Obama’s (outsourced) Stimulus. Those fence sitters tend to want a leader, and Obama showed clearly that he’s not capable of it. He was out there last night saying “we’re not done yet.” Who’s this “we”?
David Wu : Has a member of Congress forced to resign amid a sex scandal ever drawn less media attention? Somewhere, Anthony Weiner is grimacing.
Yeah, well, he resigned, but, when’s he actually going to leave?
Losers
Congress: Coming into this debt-ceiling showdown, Congress was about as popular as poison ivy. One can only imagine just how much further that discontent has spread after this high-profile demonstration of brinkmanship and intransigence. Lawmakers — bless their hearts — seem entirely unaware of just how bad they looked during this fight and will almost certainly spend the next few weeks (or months) congratulating themselves on their tremendous magnanimity.
Well, people need to understand that this is the way the Legislative branch works. You have a different party in control of each side of the branch, and those people were elected to do certain things, which are at odds with each other.
Liberals: As the basic framework of the deal emerged, liberals began voicing their discontent about a bargain that left their side wanting more. With no revenue in the initial phase of the legislation and Medicare cuts on the table in the second phase, there’s not much for the ideological left to celebrate.
Liberals are still more than welcome to send extra revenue to the IRS. Practice what you preach.
And what about the US economy? Winner? Loser? Time will tell, but, this same debate will need to be revisited next year in terms of the next budget, and we need to reduce spending further, and immediately. We need to rework the entitlements, to make them solvent for the future. And we need to knock Obama out of the White House, and flip enough seats in the Senate, in order to attempt to get our fiscal house in order.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.
