I like Kevin Drum, but this is ridiculous. Let me get one thing out of the way right at the outset. It may be difficult to precisely define ‘progressivism’, but it is not synonymous with the ‘purist left.’ The ‘purist left’ is important and it’s nice when they happen to be on your side, but they’re worse than worthless when you’re in a real fight. They can’t be bothered to get their hands dirty. So, please, let’s not equate progressivism with purity. They are only tangentially related.
So, did the president really go Medieval on the Left? You know, did he go medieval in the Pulp Fiction sense? No. No, he did not. He pointed out that he can’t snap his fingers and get progressive outcomes and that he is often faced with a choice between getting something done for the American people or failing to do anything worthwhile at all. He scolded sanctimonious people of the left who don’t understand his choices. It’s pretty much the same thing I have been saying for a year and a half, and it doesn’t make me a Blue Dog to say it.
Then there is this observation by Drum.
…even if Obama thinks his progressive critics are off base, he must know by now how they’re going to react to compromises like yesterday’s tax cut deal. So why was he apparently so unprepared for this? Why deliberately make things worse with his base during a press conference?
Drum’s answer is that most of it is calculated to appeal to independents (the punching hippies strategy) but with a hint of genuine loss of temper. But this is too complicated. How about a simple explanation? Obama is telling the left what they need to hear. What makes Drum think he was unprepared for criticism? It seems to me that he was well-prepared for criticism and took that criticism on with confidence and assertiveness. Whether or not the president is feeling exasperated with his critics on the left, he would make the same argument. Here it is:
We’re going to keep on having this battle. But in the meantime I’m not here to play games with the American people or the health of our economy. My job is to do whatever I can to get this economy moving. My job is to do whatever I can to spur job creation. My job is to look out for middle-class families who are struggling right now to get by and Americans who are out of work through no fault of their own.
A long political fight that carried over into next year might have been good politics, but it would be a bad deal for the economy and it would be a bad deal for the American people. And my responsibility as President is to do what’s right for the American people. That’s a responsibility I intend to uphold as long as I am in this office.
I have some criticisms and concerns, but I take the president at his word here. He’s looking to lower unemployment as his number one concern, and ideology and politics take a backseat. That’s not all bad.
I have two critiques. A wounded president can’t let too many more opportunities for ‘good politics’ go by without imperiling his reelection. He needs some ‘good politics’ because he’s been much stronger at governance than at maintaining the support of the American people. My second concern is reflected in much of the criticism the president is getting from the left. While I agree that this deal is pretty good stimulus (it should lower the unemployment rate by up to a point over the next two years), it comes at a cost to our budget and to our political choices in the future. This deal creates risks that the president can’t just dismiss as sanctimonious. Drum says “[p]rogrammatic liberalism is essentially dead for a good long time, and small bore stuff is probably the best we can hope for over the next 10-20 years.” If Drum is right, the reason is the cost of extending these Bush tax cuts.
Personally, I think that concern is overblown. First of all, so long as we are working on perfecting our nation’s version of universal health care, I don’t think we need much in the way of ‘programmatic liberalism’ over the next decade or so. And, secondly, getting the economy going really is the most important thing, even for progressive policies, in the long run.
So, please, let’s not continue this sad spectacle of crying like schoolgirls every time the president has some pushback against the left’s criticism. He made a decision. He explained it. Deal with it without taking things personally.
