the lies of David W, Corn

[lapislzi]

16. As my father would say...you have to take the bitter with the better.

The political landscape is what it is. We can't wish it away with dreams of ideological purity. I would say ideological purity went the way of the dodo, but that would be wrong, because we human beings cannot exist in a state of ideological purity.

We have to deal with the fact that not only were these tax cuts very popular across the board, but that Republicans are putting stuff on the table that is really going to hurt working people: mortgage deductions, extended unemployment...all of which will vanish if the very real issue of those tax cuts is not addressed. Many of us who could see down the road opposed those tax cuts from the get-go. But now they are fact, and they are history, and we, who live in the real world, have to deal with them as such.

This wasn't the landscape when those tax cuts were proposed, but it was in 2010, and it is now. The Republicans pressed their advantage when they could, and they won that political ground. Now, you can blame Obama for not fighting hard enough, and you'd be right. But that political ground will not be won back any time soon, given the composition of the House. It's over. It's a fight for another day, and another, friendlier Congress (if that ever comes to pass).

I sincerely hope Obama will cut the best deal he can with these people. I think he owns enough political capital to push them...but how far is an open ended question.

Trashing the President, and David Corn, is not particularly constructive. Let's work with what we have, and not with what we wish we had.