Josh Marshall: Why It's All Up to the Prez Now

[babylonsister]

Why It's All Up to the Prez Now
Josh Marshall | September 13, 2010, 12:54PM


Political campaigns often include inflection points where key decisions on each side, taken over a short period of time, can have a vast effect on the outcome of the election. This looks like one of those moments. Despite being in the House leadership for over a decade, John Boehner's performance yesterday on Face the Nation showed he's still out of his league as a party leader on the big stage. Boehner gave the president and the Democrats a big opening by conceding that he'd vote for an extension of only those tax cuts on incomes under $250,000 a year.

snip//

The President has three key interests.

First is to push policies that generate more demand in an economy that appears to be stumbling without signing on to a permanent extension of the upper income tax cuts which won't stimulate the economy in the short-term and are budgetarily ruinous in the long term.

Second, is to find a footing to galvanize Democrats for the next seven weeks and give them something for him and them to run on. At the moment the Democrats campaign platform appears to be "Are you kidding? These Republicans are friggin' crazy. And then did a lot of crazy stuff back when that Bush guy was president!" True enough. But lacks of a certain propulsive force.

Third is to sow dissension in Republican ranks.

Boehner's comments give the president the opportunity to do all three. And with the legislative leadership on the Hill seemingly hapless, it looks like it will come down to the President and how he plays his cards over the next 48 hours. As our Christina Bellantoni notes in this just published article, the White House seems aware of the opportunity Boehner has given them and is inclined to press the advantage. It's not clear though whether they yet recognize all the possibilities.

snip//

If the Republicans try to filibuster in the Senate, that's really not a problem for the Dems since filibusters are nothing to be afraid of when you're pushing something that has public support. Indeed, quite the contrary, especially when you're doing it in the face of an impending election.

In all of this, the same leverage that is pushing for good policy is working for good politics. And the two reinforce each other.

Handled well, this train of events will inevitably force a division between Republicans who are ideologically committed to the upper income tax cuts and those who just want to avoid being on the wrong side of an issue and get on with getting to November 2nd so they can win a ton of seats in Congress. But that division itself will throw the Republicans off balance, perhaps to a significant degree.

more...

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/09/political_campaigns_often_include_inflection.php

[dkf]

1. What policies that generate demand have we seen?

I do think this is the biggest challenge Obama has and it goes hand in hand with creating confidence in a positive future. Something has to change the mentality of this country or we will turn into a doomed self fulfilling prophecy.