" Dead wrong, or deeply cynical--So Who are they Fooling?" (Joan Walsh, Salon)

Dead wrong, or deeply cynical
Either Obama is dooming the economy to placate deficit hawks, or he's pretending to freeze non-defense spending Video
By Joan Walsh

So who do they think they're fooling? If they're telling the truth, and dozens of social programs will be exempt from the freeze, or even increased -- hey, we can even pass a second stimulus! -- then why is Obama selling what he's doing as a freeze? To win Republican support? Not gonna happen. To make Evan Bayh happy? (The freeze is exactly what Bayh recommended to Bloomberg's Al Hunt on Friday.) Who cares?

And do they think all Republicans are stupid and/or completely cut off from the liberal blogosphere, so they won't learn that this is just a pretend freeze, that will let Democrats grow social spending for their priorities? Bernstein said it would let Obama cut "wasteful spending" and thwart the lobbyists who defend every imaginable government program. Really? If everyone knows the freeze isn't real, and it's just about proving your program is important to the recovery or health care or some other protected priority, it will be a lobbyists' free for all anyway.

This charade is almost worse than if Obama was dead serious about an across the board freeze. Both Michael Lind, on Salon, and Matt Yglesias at Think Progress have suggested that Obama is trying to win over Republicans by picking a fight with the left (um, doesn't he already have one?) and the denunciations by people like Maddow and Robert Reich play perfectly into their trap. If they're right, Obama's having his Sister Soulja moment--and tonight the role of "Sister" will be played by folks like Maddow and Reich, who supported him. Nice!

All this occurred on David Plouffe's first day back in the inner circle (another inscrutable messaging campaign by the White House: He's been here all along, this is no big deal! He's coming back to save us, it's a big deal!) Politics can't help Obama when the problem is policy, and his letting Republicans and conservative Democrats block the change he campaigned on. Either way: Welcome back, David Plouffe. Oooof.

MORE at ..........
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joan_walsh/index.html

:evilgrin:

for those who don't like Salon, these days.

:P I'll give you a rec, though, and not out of pity.

If it doesn't come from Gibbs or Rahm, it can't be true.

YES.

OH, yes...

and they would be right.