The four hypocrisies

Andrew Sullivan starts us off at a look at what he calls a pyrrhic defeat. I am familiar with the term pyrrhic victory, but looked it up to make sure of the meaning. It is a victory that is so costly that another such victory would cause defeat. That left me wondering what exactly Sullivan means. Perhaps a defeat so costly another one is a victory? Perhaps Sullivan got the definition wrong and meant a defeat that is really a victory? The rest of what he says implies the second meaning.

Sullivan dissects it this way: The GOP used blackmail and overplayed their hand. All the recent polls say that with a debt ceiling of $14 trillion should be done. The combination of those two ideas makes Obama look like the responsible adult by surrendering. However, he surrendered to his advantage. The debt ceiling debate is off the table until after the next election, removing the GOP's biggest weapon. The debate revealed a split in the GOP between those who only want cuts and those who want to maintain Cold War defense spending. He can now campaign for a balanced solution of tax hikes (or reform) in addition to cuts. If the 2012 battle is between low and high taxes, the GOP wins. If it is between the poor and wealthy, Obama wins. All that leaves me wondering why Obama didn't start that campaign when the debt ceiling battle was heating up instead of waiting to use it as a campaign tool.

Sullivan admits one possibility in this scenario is whether Obama's "surrender" has depressed his base, prompting them to sit out 2012 like they did in 2010. One of Sullivan's commenters says this is exactly the case with his sister. Obama was seen as "caving" and thus can't stand up to bullies. Obama keeps talking about how "broken" Washington is, implying Obama himself is broken. Obama isn't fighting for the little guy the same way the GOP isn't. Obama was trounced by the Tea Party and America doesn't like wimpy leaders.

Others take issue with that response. The debate isn't over. Progressives are becoming more energized over making their case. Obama didn't cave. He got the best deal possible under insane circumstances. After listing several of Obama's accomplishments a commenter says he'll take Obama's weakness over the GOP false strength.

Sullivan comments on Michael Lind, noting the Tea Party is nearly two-thirds from the South. This last crisis is "the latest case in which the radical right in the South has held America hostage until its demands are met." And Lincoln wasn't the first. They will look for another opportunity, especially if they feel Obama caved.



Keith Olbermann offers today's conclusion with a 9 minute rant about the deal. His language is, of course, richer than I will reproduce here. We have replaced good governance with protecting the incumbent (hasn't it always been like that?), the Four Freedoms (check your Norman Rockwell) with the Four Hypocrisies.

1. The committee to fill in the details of the cuts. Congress has created a 4th branch of government to do their dirty work, designating a few to be the fall guys so the rest can tell voters they had nothing to do with the cuts.

2. The GOP creates an extra-constitutional committee while demanding a constitutional amendment that would straightjacket future congresses. Such balanced budget amendment would render the government helpless whenever a disaster struck or a war must be fought (for some conservatives not helping the poor in a catastrophe is exactly what they want).

3. That super-congressional committee is a shell-game. It mandates equal cuts from domestic and defense budgets -- except of the committee can't agree or the Congress of the whole doesn't accept their decisions.

4. Since this agreement came with no new taxes, it confirms again that the rich have free license to buy Congress, legislatures, and courts to create laws squeezing the middle class and poor for the benefit of the rich. What else would they do with that much money? There are taxes in the agreement -- stealth taxes on the poor and middle class because the cost of public services is going down and thus the cost of living is going up. The middle class can no longer invest in the future because so much is going to the expenses of today.

This deal is the tipping point from a government that protects its citizens to one that guts the safety net.

Where is the outrage? Not in the media, who prize access over calling out the hypocrites. Not from other politicians, who only calculate a position based on how it will translate into votes. Not from most citizens who, are obsessed with entertainment, celebrity, and trivia and who are inundated with diversion and illusion from the media.

So it will come from us. We must protest in the streets as was done in the 1960s.