Tax Cuts, DADT, New Start and Debt

While Bernie Sanders is filibustering the tax cut deal on the Senate floor as I write,the Democrats added two sweeteners--ethanol subsidies and cash grants for renewable energy projects. By the end,this is going to look like a Christmas Tree, which will superpass the stimulus package.

The New York Times' editorial was on the mark today,blasting the Senate for falling to repeal DADT and the Republicans blocking medical assistance to the 9/11 First Responders. And I thought 9/11 was a Republican holiday. I guess they didn't want to share ownership with people who had to clean up the mess. That's beginning to sound all to familiar.

The roller-coaster end to DADT has made me dizzy. The Advocate, the gay paper, had a splendid statement by President Obama criticizing the Senate vote and pledging to get DADT repealed. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins promise to bring up the repeal as a stand alone bill at the end of the Lame Duck Session. But now, DADT is no longer a civil rights or moral issue, it's a political nuisance. Bob Gates wrote in today's Washington Post that if Congress doesn't repeal then he's at the mercy of the courts and this will create a situation where the Pentagon will be played like a yo-yo. If this session of Congress does not repeal, then this closes Congress off as the vehicle for its justified demise. For everyone's sanity, President Obama will have to end it by executive order and stay all discharges of gay personnel. But an executive order will disappoint because there will be an agreed upon timeline that the Pentagon must implement the order.

One interesting note--the father of DADT--former Senator Sam Nunn came out yesterday and said it was time for it to be repealed.

It's fascinating to watch the Guardians of National Security--the Republican Party--delay the Defense Appropriations Bill--for the first time in 49 years. All because they want the tax cuts for the rich. Neat, huh. Aside from DADT, the Defense Appropriations Bill contains vital support for veterans' mental illness programs and the treatment of PTSD as well as a restructuring of the military's TRICARE health insurance system to cover families. The Obama Administration has been trying to upgrade medical services for military personnel suffering from PTSD for the past year and a half and the effort has floundered because of this delay in Defense. Remember under George W., the treatment for PTSD was each victim was given Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Life. I wish this was just a cruel joke but under W. PTSD sufferers were treated as the shell-shock victims of WWI.

Susan Collins finally ran out of excuses not to support the New Start Treaty. She asked for either President Bush to endorse it. President George H.W. Bush sent out a terse statement he backed the ratification. Condi Rice, finally came out of the closet (not that one), and openly supports ratification, making it every Republican Secretary of State for the last 5 Republican Presidents. Now both Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have openly supported the ratification of the treaty but Jim deMint is threatening to filibuster but no one knows why.

President Obama obviously was listening to me yesterday. He told NPR that he would be presenting proposals to reform the entire tax code to Congress next year. This was how I thought he would avoid the 2012 Rich Tax trap. He also met with Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson of the Catfood Commission yesterday and talked about what measures they suggested he would adopt. He has already put a freeze on government wages and looks like he may adopt the McColm Social Security measure of raising the cap on the FICA tax, which would instantly solve Social Security's problems for about a century.

The Pew Foundation has a new poll out that shows that Americans are deeply concerned about the national debt but when they asked what should be done Americans favor tax increases and cuts in programs but no one can agree on any. Well, only two--freezing government wages and raising the cap on the FICA tax. Beyond that, there is no agreement on anything. Andrew Sullivan believes this provides President Obama with an opportunity to nail the inconsistencies of the GOP to the wall by outlining his plan to reduce the national debt in the State of the Union Address.

I solved the national debt problem by taking the interactive survey at the New York Times. It was a wonderful exercise. I did it by 45% in program cuts and 55% in tax increases. And voila, I got it down gradually in a manageable way. I've heard from others that they did too. So if Times readers can solve the debt, anyone can.

Republicans are flabberghasted that Democrats are rebelling at President Obama over the tax deal. Charlie Krauthammer woke up to the scene by rightfully saying that Obama picked the Republicans' pocket and laid the ground for his re-election. But Ralph Nader says that Obama should be challenged politically from the Left. Remember when Nader ran in 2000, that really came out well.

I had enjoyed the comeback of progressives in the field of policy ideas. It's been a good four years of solid policy proposals. But now, they have gone into a funk over the tax deal and become self-referential again. I hope progressive snap out of it because conservatives are in the death spiral of epistemic closure. We can't afford it to happen to the Left.

Meanwhile, the new Republican House has been hiring lobbyists like mad for key staff positions. Old Swizzle Stick Boehner has hired key lobbyists against the healthcare reform for his staff. Teabaggers have hired former employees of Koch Industries. The teabaggers in all their populism marched over to K Street on promises their campaign debts would be retired by corporations. Maybe the Democrats should wake up and see that the next two weeks are the last hurrah for now of any progressive change. Then the Battle Royale will begin and President Obama will have moved on to the Middle East Peace Talks and Afghanistan.