Lordy, here we go again. Liberals including Krugman think that Obama just needs to be persuaded to do The Right Thing – that he has bad advisers, needs to stiffen his spine, put back on that Liberalman cape he somehow left in the closet, then swoop in and smite the Republicans.
Gosh, that’s makes a nice fairy tale, doesn’t it? Lots of otherwise smart and sensible people believe it.
Let’s face it, to go by 2009 and the debt ceiling brouhaha, Obama is one fucking shitty negotiator. Unless there is tons of public pressure put on him to do the right thing, I fear he’ll cave in to the Republicans on raising the retirement age, only modestly raising taxes on the rich and cutting social safety nets. Don’t trust Obama, put lots and lots of pressure on him.
First off, Obama is a highly skilled negotiator. He’s shown that many times with his pretend financial reform, by resolutely claiming the right to kill whomever he wants without bothering with Congress, and by refusing to enforce Rule of Law against the banks while mouthing platitudes about reform. He out-negotiated lots of people on these issues. Second, Obama can not cave in to the Republicans because he already essentially agrees with them. All those nasty “entitlements” need to be slashed and the middle class needs a strong dose of Castor Oil austerity. It will taste yucky but the results are guaranteed says Tim Geithner, and he wouldn’t fib to us, would he? Oh wait, Geithner was one of the main architects of the financial disaster and Obama hired him to fix it (when he should have indicted him instead.)
Anyone who thinks Obama will be persuaded by the pleas of liberals to save social safety nets is in denial. Ain’t going to happen.