Obama and Democrats tricked into falling for "deficit" argument once again?

[kentuck]

Robert Kuttner, economist and founder of The American Prospect -writing in the HuffingtonPost -seems to think so:

"The elite media buys this story, hook, line, and sinker. Big deficits are seen as proof of partisan gridlock and government irresponsibility. The six bipartisan horsemen of budget apocalypse, Senators Warner, Chambliss et. al. are widely depicted as fiscal heroes. The pundits seem to forget where these deficits came from.

Republicans since Ronald Reagan have pursued a strategy of cutting taxes and then expressing shock at the ensuing deficit and demanding program cuts accordingly. We were already having historically high deficits when the recession began, because of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. Today's even more extreme Republicans would cut taxes further, slash outlays to their lowest level since before FDR, invoking the gods of deficit reduction.

President Obama, for his part, has fanned these flames with his appointment of the Bowles-Simpson commission, and his premature shift, as early as the 2010 State of the Union Address, from the theme of economic recovery and job creation to that of deficit reduction. His recent address at George Washington University was terrific at holding the line on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, but bought into the premise that we need deficit reduction more than we need job creation.

Why is Obama pursuing this strategy? Partly because his conservative economic advisers buy it, and partly because his political advisers look at polls that tell them voters care about deficits, especially political independents. But that current of public opinion exists only because opinion leaders -- including Obama himself -- have made such a fetish of deficits.'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/a-double-dip-recession-fo_b_853051.html

.........more

[JTFrog]

1. We should really stop driving traffic to HuffPo.

FFS.

[kentuck]

2. Don't click on it.

You have the gist of the post without the link but I understand your concerns.

[boston bean]

5. for those that don't like huffpo but have such an interest in the article, use this link:

http://infinistreams.com/2011/04/24/robert-kuttner-a-double-dip-recession-for-2012-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=robert-kuttner-a-double-dip-recession-for-2012-2

[JoePhilly]

4. Gotta keep the "Obama bad" meme going.

[msongs]

8. Obama implementing the republican agenda is bad nt

[JoePhilly]

9. Yes, he's very very bad.

Bad Obama ... bad.

[TheKentuckian]

16. What is good about this direction?

[JoePhilly]

23. Well ...

Stimulus, auto industry, Jobs numbers, GDP numbers, HCR reform, financial reform, unemployment extensions ...

Oh wait ... we didn't get the public option (or feel free to insert YOUR preferred reason why nothing else matters) ...

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

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[JoePhilly]

29. Obama's Presidency only goes back ~2 years ...

Are we pissed at him for shit that happened before he took office?

"You folks ... " ... I like that ...

Look, if you don't like THIS Democratic party ... START A NEW PARTY.

There is absolutely NOTHING stopping you.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[polichick]

11. You wouldn't post this "bad obama" crap all over the board if you could argue the points.

[JoePhilly]

19. I argue the points all the time ... it has become "pointless".

Same people, same "Obama bad" posts.

Even when nothing has happened.

They predict he'll do something terrible, and when he doesn't do it ... they move on.

If he doesn't say the exact right words ... the screaming commences.

If he DOES say the exact right words ... he didn't mean it.

Obama Bad Obama Bad Obama Bad Obama Bad.

[EFerrari]

17. This isn't "Obama is bad". It's "Obama is misled", which is still less credible. n/t

[JoePhilly]

21. In the days be fore the speech the manufactured outrage

was the prediction (repeated here on DU endlessly) that Obama was absolutely, definitely, positively, going to announce major cuts to social security and medicare in the speech the other week.

Du was on fire about. How evil Obama was for making such cuts. On and On and On.

But then ... OOOPPPS ... it didn't happen.

And so NOW, the Obama Bad meme shifts. The fact that he talked about the deficit at all is bad. Bad Obama Bad.

[EFerrari]

24. If you look at his speech, he didn't rule out anything

except ending some programs. There's a lot of damage you can do without ending Medicare and Social Security.

I don't think Obama is bad but I don't trust his economic policy as far as I can throw my resume. Foreclosuregate continues, millions of people still out of work, he's pushing three new Free Trade Agreements. Sorry.

[JoePhilly]

27. Which damage did he propose??

The PREDICTED damage was HUGE.

When it did not happen ... OH WELL ... move along.

Pick a new outrage ... and scream.

I am SURE that if Obama had let the Bush tax cuts expire, the outrage meme here on DU would be that he broke his promise to NOT raise taxes on those making under 250k. It would be PROOF that he hated the middle class. And it would be his "read my lips, no new taxes" moment.

Bad Obama Bad.

[JTFrog]

18. Indeed.

Funny how many agreed and rec'd this post: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x946242

Yet, if it's Obama Bad, then it's fair game on DU. Funny how that seems to be the norm rather than the exception around here these days.

:shrug:

[Tippy]

13. HufPo began changing along before she sold it

I rarely went there and have not gone back since the sale....

[moondust]

3. "Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!"

Became "Deficits! Deficits! Deficits!" soon after Republicans won big in the midterms running on "Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!"

Funny how that works...

[Avant Guardian]

7. "Deficits! Deficits! Deficits!"

Tea Party slogan

[moondust]

12. "Taxed Enough Already!"

Yeah sure.

Moral of the story: When you don't have a clue, find a big easy target and blast away!

[girl gone mad]

6. k & r

[Karmadillo]

10. Tricked? LOL

nt

[Poboy]

20. Right. I think the sarcasm "quotes" are on the wrong word.

"tricked" indeed.

[mmonk]

14. The party fell for it in the 80's and hasn't looked back. Many people

are just beginning to notice.

[CrossChris]

15. Who's getting tricked?

I think lots of people are getting tricked in this equation, but Obama and the Dems aren't them.

[inna]

25. some Dems certainly are.

Obama isn't, that much is pretty certain.

[AtomicKitten]

22. The GOP will find the deficit is a double-edge sword & Pres Obama will and has used it against them.

link: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/open-mic-reveals-obamas-harsh-criticism-for-paul-ryans-alleged-fiscal-prudence/

Barack Obama Mocks Paul Ryan’s Past Fiscal Recklessness In Private Donor Meeting

-- snip

“Eliminating the health care bill would cost us $1 trillion dollars,” the president said. “It would add $1 trillion to the deficit. So when Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure, he’s just being America’s accountant and trying to you know be responsible, this is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill — but wasn’t paid for. So it’s not on the level. And we’ve got to keep on you know, keep on shining a light on that.”

[eleny]

26. The Progressive Caucus isn't being fooled

Here's there People's Budget which I heard the Black Caucus recently endorsed. http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=70

So a bunch of Dems are on the right track.

I figured you've already seen this but posted it since it refutes Kuttner's malarkey of a premise about Dems.

If Obama would only take the Progressive Caucus seriously we might get somewhere. That's the real story, imo.