I Think Obama Is Bluffing

[tblue37]

78. It's sort of like the Republicans use of abortion as a wedge issue.

They don't really want to outlaw it, because that would take it off the table as a wedge issue, so for decades they've carefully refrained from doing anything to outlaw abortion.

Unfortunately, though, the Republican games have gotten the state houses stacked with teabaggers who really do want to outlaw abortion, and they are doing so obliquely by making it impossible for most women to access one even while the procedure stays techniquely legal. I bet most establishment Repubs are not happy about that, because in the long run they will lose the wedge issue while also enraging more people who will get off their duffs andvote against them. But the wedge issue led to a constant barrage of anti-abortion propaganda that changed the conversation in a way that made it possible for radical Repubs to make access to abortion impossible for many women.

Obama may well be bluffing, but by allowing the Repubs to frame the conversation this way--i.e., that deficits are our major current problem and that benefits must be cut--he could be creating a situation in which the benefit cuts that he doesn't really want to see enacted (if, in fact, it is a bluff to create a wedge issue) eventually do end up happening.

He needs to make better use of the bully pulpit and get the public on his side to prevent cuts--if that is what he really wants. I certainly do hope he doesn't reallywant cuts--but who knows?