Compromise

In order to understand national politics, you have to divorce yourself from reality. Politics is a game. This is why we study political science. But, those who don't understand the dynamics of national politics might feel a bit disenfranchised.

It is very understandable to be angry when middle class citizens are having trouble putting food on the table or getting necessary medication when well-off Congressman make seething diatribes, polemics and jeremiads about the principles of fiscal responsibility. Or, when 99ers (those who have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment) hear about cutting services to reduce the deficit when they can barely afford to eat. Or maybe when Congressman from states with less people than livestock block much needed money for those who are starving because of their financial principles. For them, damning the ship is fine, if they're already on a lifeboat. There is a definite disconnect between the Hill and the reality in the valley below.

Current national politics are anathema to progress. They have been for the last 1-2 years. For most, this elicited anger towards the Administration and the government. Obama came into office in the Hope that he would Change the course of Washington, as most have tried. He compromised, accommodated, appeased and adjusted. He gave, and they took. And, in November, 2010, they took even more.

Now, what will the Administration do? Do what it does best: Compromise. Republicans took the most vulnerable as hostages by threatening to vote down any unemployment extension, and Obama paid the ransom. Keep the ship afloat if it means negotiating with the pirates. So, he crafted a very Clintonian proposal to cut taxes for those who are making over $250,000/yr for two years, keeping a permanent tax cut for those who are making less than $250,000/yr and increasing the limit on the estate tax from $1 million to $5 million. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says that most Republicans will fall in line in support of the tax cut. Even the senior fellow at the ultra-conservative American Enterprise Institute has supported the measure. The price-tag: $900 billion over 2 years, of which $300 billion is offset by the stimulus.

In 1996, President Clinton won a second term in a near landslide. He had lost the House and Senate to a Republican insurgency in 1994, led by Newt Gingrich. He cut services, reformed welfare, deregulated the housing industry and compromised to show that he valued progress over principle. Obama is searching for his inner-Clinton.