Words I Never Thought I would Write

I agree with Ezra Klein. There, I said it! It is so astounding that I want to say it again. I AGREE WITH EZRA KLEIN!!!

Klein, of course, is the uber-liberal writer from the Washington Post who is a frequent guest on the various MSNBC lefty cheerleading shows. Today, however, Klein wrote a column called "2011 is not 1995". Klein's point is that although president Obama and that champion of cowboy poetry Harry Reid are portraying last night's budget deal as a big victory, it is actually a major defeat for the Democrats and Obama. Klein understands that when Obama sings the praises of "the largest annual spending cuts in our history" and Reid calls the cuts "historic", it will be much more difficlt to fight future cuts as a bad thing which will damage the economy. Klein recalls that for the last few months, the Democrats have sung the tune that said that budget cuts in a time of a weak economy would slow growth and cost jobs. After doing their about face last night, it will be yet another flip flop to go back to the original hymnal. The truth is that Obama and the Obamacrats have now admitted that either budget cuts will be good for the economy or that the Democrats want to take credit for budget cuts that will harm the economy.

Klein also points out that Obama is trying to replicate the Clinton plan of 1995 which used a government shutdown and budget fights for then president Clinton to win a major victory over Newt Gingrich and the new GOP majorities in congress. Klein also points out, however, that in 1995 the economy was roaring ahead and unemployment was about 5%, a far cry from our current anemic economic "recovery". As Klein says, "Clinton’s speeches were persuasive because the labor market did a lot of his talking for him."

Last night was no victory for the Democrats. It was an enormous victory for the GOP and for those who want to restore rational behavior (or at least something like it) to the federal government.