Here We Go

by digby

The fiscal zombies said nothing when George W Bush passed out the surplus to all their wealthy friends just 8 years ago and then blindly cheered on an unnecessary, hugely expensive war. No, they waited until the economy was in total meltdown to insist that everyone (but them) needs to "sacrifice." I don't know where they get the chutzpah, but it seems to be in endless supply.

I wrote earlier about Steny's speech last week, in which he explained that we can't afford health care unless we start "making choices" about who gets to live and die. Now, energized by Steny's clarion call for high taxes, lower benefits and cuts in medicare and medicaid, the Dean is very excited, extolling every fiscal scold in the land for his "courage" and insisting, along with the rest of the Pain Caucus, that the best time to demand higher taxes and huge sacrifices of the American people is during the worst economic crisis of most of our lifetimes.

What could be more inspiring and reassuring right now than the notion that the government is going to cut spending on retirement and health care and raise all our taxes to boot? It's politically brilliant:

Conrad and Gregg have proposed attacking that larger problem by creating a bipartisan commission to examine the big entitlement programs — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — where savings must be found, and the tax systems that support them.

That proposal and its counterpart in the House, sponsored by Republican Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia and Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee, have been stymied for two years principally by the adamant opposition of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

So far, Obama has not challenged her, even though he knows as well as anyone that significant steps to avoid a succession of trillion-dollar annual deficits when we emerge from this recession clearly will require reform of entitlements and taxes.

Last week, in a courageous break with party solidarity, the House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, reiterated his support for the commission idea, suggesting that along with the overall health-care reform Obama has put on the agenda, Congress tackle Social Security.

[...]

More and more individual Democrats and Republicans are expressing a readiness for such an effort. In response to Hoyer's speech, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who traveled the country last year with John McCain, told my Washington Post colleague, Lori Montgomery, "I think we can get double-digit Republican support for a reasonable compromise."

As if to confirm his words, Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio and independent Democrat Joe Lieberman of Connecticut introduced an entitlement commission bill of their own last week. Voinovich told me that he thinks "the prospects for action on the issue are very, very good, because the feeling is growing that we can't sustain the path we're on."

When I spoke with Graham by phone, he outlined a plan that would not only embrace Hoyer's proposals but provide bigger benefits for retirees past 80 "who are outliving their 401(k)s" in increasing numbers.

Graham said that with leadership from Obama, including a barnstorming tour with congressional supporters from both parties, such a compromise could pass Congress this year — with no need for a commission.

But while these Republicans are gung-ho, Hoyer is cautious. He reminded me in an interview that both Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have thrown cold water on the commission idea, and said that signals from the White House suggest that Obama would not want anything to get in the way of his health care and energy initiatives this year.

If that means more futile gestures, like last week's tiny budget cuts, the nation — and Obama — will have missed an opportunity.

Right. If ever there was an opportunity to prove that government is completely useless by scaring the hell out of people and cutting much needed services in a time of crisis, it's now. And that, of course, would be the point.


*And btw, if they want to tank health care, the administration will let this meme take hold. it plays right into Frank Luntz's hands. You can't sell health care at the same time you are telling everyone they're going to have to sacrifice. That's exactly what Luntz wants people to think.