Ezra Klein on Lawrence basically just said that all of this looks bad for Obama.

[onehandle]

That people judge Presidencies by the politics, less by the results.

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. The people..

...at least Democrats and independents, got what they wanted.

Gallup: 68% of Democrats and 60% of independents said they wanted Congress to, "Agree to a budget compromise, even if that means they pass a bill you don't agree with".

NBC/WSJ: Two-thirds of independents (66%) said they preferred a compromise, while just 30% said the GOP should stand firm. Additionally, 64% of Democrats said they'd rather see Democrats make a deal than hold out for a shutdown.

Hard to see where Klein is coming from in the face of those numbers.

[high density]

6. What type of stupid poll is that?

Pass something for the sake of passing something? I don't see the sense in that. There has been too much focus on the short term shutdown and not any focus on the long term effects of these horrible decisions on our economy. The Republicans successfully made the debt and deficit into a far more urgent matter than it is, blamed their drunken spending on wars and tax cuts on the Democrats/"entitlements"/abortions/etc, and now are getting spending cuts that they want. The media ran right along with it, with ridiculous shutdown countdown clocks on the TV screens. As a side effect we also will likely get a weakened economy and job market, which Republicans believe will help their chances in 2012.

I don't see how any of this is good, even if some morons in a poll who are likely more informed about Dancing With the Stars than politics don't care about the minutia of it.

[sadbear]

8. Who said the American people had any sense?

We're not talking about informed voters here.

[Davis_X_Machina]

9. Those are *Democrats*...

...plumping for compromise by two to one.

You know, the kind of voters Democratic politicians rely on?

[high density]

15. 2 to 1 they wanted some unknown compromise for the sake of compromise

I guess there's absolutely no chance of buyers remorse in a couple of weeks from now when one discovers the gory details of what was completely unknown?

People will not remember the "git 'er done" attitude that they wanted. They will remember the economic pain that is bound to come from this.

[Davis_X_Machina]

16. We'll see. That's what makes this business interesting.

I think Boehner is mortally wounded; that the new Speaker will be the product of a ‘get thee to the right of me’ death spiral, through a series of leadership elections, perhaps starting with Cantor, and culminating in a Speaker Peter King and a rump of about 150-160 True Believers, just in time for the 2012 elections.

Making it that much easier to flip the House.

[Parker CA]

12. Exactly what Ezra Klein was saying. nt

[DCBob]

26. What about the long term effects of not addressing the deficit?

I agree its not as urgent as the Rethugs have made it out to be but out-of-control debt growth will eventually destroy this nation if not reigned in at some point.

[fredamae]

30. We aren't broke, we don't have a spending problem

(aside from the military/contractors) We have a revenue problem that is directly caused by the tax inequality problem.
If the tax rate was simply rolled back to where it was during the Clinton Admin, that would cover a majority of our debt, get people back to work and the country smiling again.

The pubs will never admit it nor will they ever fix it. They are going to keep messaging their masses to hate those who have unions, health care etc instead of encouraging them to fight for it for themselves if they want it.

[DCBob]

31. This graph says we do have a problem..

[Armstead]

10. Because it's not really. A Compromise?

Give me a $1 million and let me shoot your dog.

No please don't shoot my dog, and I'll only give you $500,000

Well I won't shoot your dog but you must give $1 million

Okay. That's a good compromise.

[customerserviceguy]

20. Well stated

The Repube leadership has let itself play 'good cop' and the tea partiers play 'bad cop', and they have gotten what they've wanted. Also, if there is a last-minute 'compromise' every week or two, it weakens the President in the long run.

They're sure playing this game well, for their side.

[ProSense]

2. Ezra is being a clown.

Just like all his reporting about Ryan's budget.

The government not shutting down looks bad for Obama? Does that mean the government shutting down would have looked better?

[Exultant Democracy]

4. Worked for Clinton. It wouldn't be crazy to consider that history would repeat itself

in which case the shut down would have exploded on the republicans.

[ProSense]

7. Different times,

different nuts.

[SharksBreath]

14. If the shutdown was over taxing the rich

and making the corporations like GE and Exxon pay taxes.


Well yes.

[CreekDog]

23. that adjective, "clown" doesn't fit Ezra Klein --not at all

i get the feeling you don't know who he is or what he said.

[Thrill]

3. Looks bad for Congress

Not Obama in my opinion

[fredamae]

29. I kinda disagree

Obama was in negotiations with both boehner and Reid. I have heard "grumbling" from both sides; apparently, they weren't really invited to be involved.

I think this is going to hurt him. I don't believe a "shutdown would have hurt him. rove "called off the dogs" citing the "Clinton Experiment" as cause to accept the budget.

They want to preserve the gains they are making now as Obama's approval rating drops. A shutdown, according to rove would "have made Obama look stronger".

[Parker CA]

5. His rational was that it will look bad over the longer term as people begin to see and feel the

results of the nearly $80B in cuts that are likely going to be removed from the 2011 budget that Obama and his economist had deemed necessary ($40B proposed increase from 2010 to 2011 that was conceded at the start of negotiations and the $38.5B just agreed upon) He said the immediate impression may be of success for Obama, but that as the whole thing plays out, Obama may not fare well because of how the economy is affected.

[onehandle]

Exactly right. Thanks.

Ezra's explanation did not stick in my head nearly that well.

[Parker CA]

13. No problem.

[earthside]

11. Retreat. Retreat. Retreat.

I don't remember a President who gave away so much, over and over and over again.

At this rate the whole Ryan-Tea Party budget will be passed through an Obama brokered deal based on an unfilibusterable up-or-down vote in the U.S. Senate.

Democrats better start thinking about another nominee if they want to keep the White House.

[rhombus]

17. It shouldn't have come to this if DEMS had passed a budget last year

Considering this weak economy, I thank God that we averted a catastrophic government shutdown. It may be good politics for those who have jobs, but many folks are already struggling. They dont't need the additional stress.

Keep your eye on the ball, folks.

[Ikonoklast]

25. Blame McConnell for that, he filibustered it.

The DEMS had nothing to do with not passing a budget; it was all do to Republican intransigence.

[Hippo_Tron]

18. Nate Silver has some pretty good numbers showing that people won't even notice the outcome of this

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/budget-politics-in-the-doldrums/

If Ezra Klein was referring to how the President might looks to the DC elites, then yea he may be right.

[Logical]

19. We will see! n-t

[Arkana]

21. No, no they don't.

In twenty years people are not going to care what the President did and didn't "draw the line" on. They're going to say "Did he try to make the country better? Was he able to work with Congress? How was he with foreign affairs?"

[RBInMaine]

22. Oh BULLSHIT ! He'll win re-election soundly. So sick of such shit.

[treestar]

27. +1

Every single week it's another thing that is the last straw!

[ReturnoftheDjedi]

24. Obama broke Boehner. Ezra just can't handle the truth.

[DCBob]

28. it would have been worse if the gov shut down and the economy tanked.

This no time to playing chicken with political maniacs when the future of the country is at stake.