A reader writes:
I very much sympathize with your reader and his sister, but I have to question if "caving" was worse than default or a constitutional showdown over the 14th Amendment, especially considering that Obama wanted cuts to begin with. Have his supporters forgotten this very crucial detail? The "grand bargain" may have included revenues, but it was mostly cuts; would liberals be happier with these same cuts if they were coupled with modest revenue increases? If so, then they ought to keep watching, because this fight isn't over.
We should all be rightly aghast at what just happened (and we're going to have to find a new answer for the debt ceiling; that pandora's box has been opened), but the left needs to take a powder here. Bitter pills aren't poison pills. The same people who lashed out at healthcare not being everything they wanted will treat this as the ultimate capitulation, but that shrillness wears off — I seriously doubt that the guy who announced bin Laden's death will be thought of as allergy-inducing weak because he compromised on budget cuts. Cable news and the Huffington Post will be onto the newest outrage in a week. And Obama will be his usual steady self, because as he has told us quite recently, "a man cannot have his way in all things."
Another writes:
I am astounded by this line from one of your readers: "I opened the e-mail and she had written only one line: "I cannot support a President who seems incapable of standing up to bullies.""
Seriously? Obama is the man who promised to the voters he would get Bin Laden, then led a government operation to get Bin Laden, and then risked his presidency to execute Bin Laden: Obama not only stood up to one of the world's greatest bullies – Obama executed him!
Obama also promised to bring compromise to Washington. Well, Obama delivers on his promises, doesn't he. The lesson is not that Obama caves. The lesson is Obama hunts down and kills the enemies of the US, and Obama compromises with his compatriots for the good of the US. If his base be depressed, then this is the lesson that Obama must drive home in the next election. Perhaps this is a lesson beyond the ability of the young voters to understand, but for those with more experience, Obama is proving himself to be a cunning president able to see the true interests of the US while protecting the vulnerable among us from the depredations of Tea Party nihilism. If only the young voters could see this; perhaps in time they will.
I think this deal, like many alleged Obama caves will look better and better from the rear-view mirror. It doesn't finish the debate and fight over taxes and spending; it re-engages it at a time of dangerous debt levels. If liberals want to take their marbles and go home, they're missing an historic opportunity to make their case.
The Dish 