Plouffe in Nov. said Medicare, Medicaid driving deficit. Says "left" must accept tough things.

[Overseas]

41. Very uncomfortable hearing Democrats buy into the Republican framing. I remember that Ed segment.

It is very disturbing when I hear Democrats buy into the Republican framing--

>>> Republican "sacrifice" = We ask rich people to pay a little more

>>> Democratic sacrifice = Impose more cuts in addition to the trillion already imposed on the poor and middle class in the president's first tem

Both Parties Sacrifice by asking the millionaires and billionaires who donate to their campaigns to pay more. (Democrats shouldn't be denied that sacrifice just because Republicans have allowed the Koch Brothers to inflame and fund an activist fringe of their party that primaried-out their most experienced and more moderate legislators.)

Plouffe should be smart enough to frame things much better, more in keeping with the election victory.

Republican sacrifice =
(1) Approve a $700 billion jobs program to reinforce our infrastructure and green our power grids in keeping with the magnitude of climate change we have seen, even though putting people back to work will improve the economy and make the Democratic administration look good.
(2) Agree to cut the military budget by 35%, with a serious cost benefit analysis of the privatization of military services versus returning to pre-Dick Cheney days of doing more in-house.

Democratic sacrifice =
(1) Dare to remind Republicans of the big cuts already made to programs that help the poor and middle class. Remind them that that round of austerity did not improve our economy. It was only the little bit of stimulus the president was allowed that helped us.
(2) Propose a tiny transaction tax on Wall Street trading, even though Democratic legislators depend on their campaign contributions too.
(3) Gather the courage to propose a constitutional amendment that corporations are not people.
(4) Democrats could accept smaller scale spending, and cuts to the military, but that still buys into the Republican framing that they are the fiscally responsible party when they have already proven how reckless they are by running up deficits while their administrations are in power, and then railing against them when they lose the presidency.
(5) Give up playing along with Republicans on raising the debt ceiling being a meaningful dispute.
(6) Dare to remind Republicans that Democratic Ideas Won, even though media pundits may call you peevish and want to pretend that austerity is the way to go. A majority of people voted for the president because he promised not to impose austerity and trumpeted his stimulus programs. The pundits know austerity has not worked and they have the information to understand that government spending is a good investment in our economy. We need to stop pretending.