It is perfectly appropriate to use the occasion of a debt-limit debate to force as much serious action as possible on deficit reduction. But that’s not the same thing as being willing to resist a debt-limit increase to the point of risking substantial economic turmoil. There’s no sense of proportion in such tactics, and voters would rightly blame the GOP for the chaos that would result if the U.S. Treasury ran short of the funds necessary to service existing debt and pay for the federal spending that has already been approved.
I suspect that I’m doing Jim an injustice. I suspect that his real short-term advice to Republicans is “Shut the fuck up and pass the debt increase! You’re acting like a bunch of fucking babies!” But I also suspect Jim is too smart to say that to modern-day Republicans, because modern-day Republicans don’t take kindly to reason. They’d rather throw Baby downstairs and see if the little fucker bounces.
I like Jim’s short-term advice in substance if not in style, but I find his long-term advice more than a little lame. The GOP, he says, should “articulate real entitlement reforms, advance them in the legislative process, and stand behind them for the next two years.”
Will these be readily accepted by the administration? No. But they are sound and defensible reforms that would address the undeniable problem of growing entitlement spending. And they would demonstrate that the GOP is capable of practical and serious governance.
It is possible that the deal that was struck last week will be the last major piece of budgetary legislation passed during the Obama era. It’s hard to see serious tax reform advancing at this point, and certainly the kind of entitlement reforms that are commensurate with the size of the problem won’t be enacted. If that is indeed the case, then history will not look kindly on the Obama presidency. Future generations of Americans will live less prosperously because of the massive debt and deficits of these years. And President Obama will rightly shoulder most of the blame for this colossal failure of leadership.
