Read This, You'll Feel Better: Perspective, and a Football Analogy

“Panic! Run for the hills! This is the end…”
Yeah, you’ve heard it before from me too, and now apparently, progressives and Democrats all over the country are panicking in reaction to the debt ceiling bill.
“Oh no! Obama caved again! He’s a secret conservative! What’ll we do?!”
WHOA! Hold on just a second Ma Barker—don’t run for the hills just yet. Let’s put this thing in perspective here.
First off, Obama is a conservative—Democrat. But wouldn't you rather have that than a gun-slinger who throws the ball all over the field, often into the hands of the opposition? Never mind, we'll get to that later.
Look, we may not agree with all of Obama's policies, but at least he’s a rational human being, which cannot be said of anyone on the other side. Also, the compromises that he’s signed didn’t come as a result of normal politics, where people with different positions sit down at a table together and figure out a compromise. He sat across the table from a spoiled brat and a bunch of terrorists.
And though the unbelievably irresponsible mainstream media failed to point out that it was Republicans, not Democrats, who were threatening the nation’s economy, the American people saw everything: they saw a rational man trying his best to go forward with reasonable ideas, like revoking tax breaks and subsidies for multi-billion dollar corporations, raising tax rates on those who measure their incomes in hundreds of thousands or millions, and making some tough choices about which government programs to scale back. On the other side, they saw a party holding a gun to the nations economy, cocking it when they didn't get their way.
Let’s get back to what makes Democrats and progressives different from the other side. Follow through—what are the consequences of the deal? Well, let’s point out right now, that with no deal, we’d currently be in default, which would have raised everyone’s interest rates, devalued the dollar, and tanked the economy.
However, the deal itself isn’t as bad as everyone thinks. Remember, the cuts don’t go into effect this year, but over a ten year period—they’re back loaded. So, in effect, if we elect a majority in both houses in 2012, they can just go back and change the deal.
Also, the trigger mechanism that was set up to cut 1.5 billion (half Medicare, half Defense) is genius, because there is no way the bi-partisan commission will be able to come up, honestly, with an alternative plan that does not increase revenue, in which case as we’ve seen, there is no chance of it ever passing the House since Republicans are dead set against any increases in revenue. And, if the commission somehow did come up with an alternative plan that didn’t include revenue, there is no way it would pass the Senate, which is held by Democrats.
What does this mean? It means that the trigger mechanism will almost certainly go into effect, and that is actually a very good thing. Medicare needs to be reformed in order to survive, and our defense budget is outlandish. And who gets to decide how those cuts take place? Obama does. Who has veto power? Obama does. And this time, there’s no gun to his head—it’s either automatic cuts that he controls, or a bill that he endorses.
Are we starting to understand? He pulled a fast one on the Republicans—we won, and in the process, a lot of Americans who don’t normally pay attention saw exactly how irrational the Republican party has become, including their corporate and Wall street donors.
Now look forward. Obama has a huge political warchest and is likely going to face a Republican candidate who has been forced to run so far right in order to win the primary that they’ll never be able to convince rational Republicans, moderates, and independents to vote for them. Sure, Obama hasn’t been able to enact what the economy needs—a massive stimulus package aimed primarily at education and infrastructure—but he hasn’t had the means either.
Here’s the football analogy. In the first two years, we scored on them, first with the stimulus package, and then with the health care bill. Dems 10 (I’ll give the stimulus an FG and the health care bill a TD), Reps 0. Then in 2010, the Republicans won office back—a natural kneejerk reaction for a country that found itself in a recession, when the opposition party was promising jobs (where are those jobs, by the way—they seem to be like Bush’s WMD’s—non-existent), not to mention the fact that our voters fumbled by not showing up to the polls. Dems 10, Reps 7.
Now, the Republicans scored a FG by getting Obama to extend the Bush tax cuts, but Obama scored a FG by getting them to extend unemployment benefits. Dems 13, Reps 10. During the first part of this year, the Republicans had the ball and were driving, but during the debt ceiling talks, Boehner threw a long bomb downfield and Eric Cantor and his Tea Party extremists pulled a T.O. and decided not to catch the ball, which we then intercepted (never good to have dissention on the bench).
Now, we may have had to punt the ball with this deal, but we’ve got them pinned down deep in their own territory. Democratic leaders have called for a renewed focus on jobs when Congress returns from its August recess. And the Republicans have been calling some horrible plays.
For example, before the recess, House Republicans were foolish enough to force a silly fight with the TSA because it allows unions, costing the government over a billion dollars in lost revenue and endangering lives. Rest assured, the mainstream media will pick up on this if they haven't already.
Additionally, they promised jobs in 2010, but they’ve done nothing to create them. In the states, where there are Republican governors and legislatures, they’re cutting teachers, firemen, police, and other public employees, all while putting the full court press on to deny women, especially vulnerable ones with children, health care services.
Finally, Republicans have now been put on record several times as holding a position that is deeply at odds with the American public, over 80% of whom believe we should raise taxes on the rich and close corporate loopholes and tax breaks. They can’t pass (legislation that is), and it’s pretty easy to stop the run when you know they’re going right every time.
Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re going to be able to score in the next year either because of staunch goal-line defense in the House, but we can drive the ball deep by putting forth legislation that would create jobs, and because President Obama, though stymied by a tough Republican defense, is a great quarterback. What we need to do at half time (2012) is to not lose faith, to put him back in under center, and get him more playmakers.
Let’s face it, we hoped we’d be winning 35-0 right now, and by all rights, we should be, but let’s remember, we’re playing on a neutral field, and the refs (supreme court) have made some extremely bad calls. Still, if we stick to our guns and support our guys, we’re going to win this game, and its possible we can blow them out in the second half.
It’s 13 to 10. We’re up 3 against our bitter rivals. Are we really going to give up because we’re not winning by enough?