Let's Make a Deal

 

If you spent any time perusing progressive web sites and blogs today, you might be inclined to believe that President Barack Obama had just cancelled Christmas.  Here are a few of the headlines from around the Internet:

“A Huge Mistake”…”The Most Unpopular Thing Obama Has Ever Done”…”The President Caves, the Rich Saved”…”GOP Strikes Gold With Tax Cut Plan”…

And those were all from the same site.

Even Dan Rather weighed in and boldly predicted that the tax cut compromise fashioned by the President and Congressional GOP leaders could result in a primary opponent coming from the left of Obama next year.  Before we summarily dismiss Mr. Rather (whose noggin is apparently tuning in yet another strange frequency, Kenneth), let’s just pause for a moment and let that phrase sink in for all of our GOP followers out there.  From the LEFT of Obama. 

What happened in Washington, D.C. today was the result of this weird new political phenomenon called “compromise.”  President Obama is partnered up with a Congress that is about to change colors in a few weeks, going from bright blue to a deep red, at least on one side of the building.  He is reaching out now to begin to build those bridges, and guess what?  Get used to it.

We fully understand the consternation of the left today, many of whom are watching in horror as Obama signs off on a plan that will extend the Bush tax cuts for two years, after campaigning against them almost non-stop.  To Obama’s most ardent supporters, it is almost inconceivable that this could happen.

So lets’ flip that coin over, shall we?

For as many folks in Congress who are diametrically opposed to extending the Bush tax cuts, there are as many who see no real value or urgency in extending unemployment benefits.  So Obama was able to get those folks to agree to a 13-month extension by giving them what they wanted, which was an across-the-board continuation of tax cuts.  In the final wash, the President and Congressional Democrats all supported extending most of the Bush tax cuts and extending unemployment benefits.  So to get the deal done, they had to cave on tax cuts for the top 2% of U.S. wage earners.

And let’s remember that some of the Democrats now howling the loudest were those who were proclaiming just before the November election that the problem with Republicans in Washington is that they “refuse to compromise” or “consider a bipartisan approach.”  Now, on the eve of the Republican takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives, look who is advocating a “just say no” policy.

In an era of hyper-partisanship, gridlock and divided government, that ain’t a bad deal, folks. Two major policy roadblocks are cleared, and who knows?  Maybe the spirit of bipartisanship will spill over to some other issues, like the ratification of the START Treaty.

As the Corbett Era dawns in Pennsylvania, we have predicted in this space that achieving a working majority on any issue will still be very challenging.  There will be times over the next two years where GOP loyalists who, like Obama’s progressives today, are sorely disappointed in Governor Corbett for not delivering to them every policy victory they dreamed of for the past eight years, but could not achieve under Governor Rendell.  There will be grumbles about a primary opponent for Corbett in 2014, mainly by those who never see the glass as half-full.

But in the end, compromise is what makes government work.  Idealism and intractable stances rarely, if ever, do.