Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Playing chess among checkers players...

The details of the budget cuts are coming out and the Right isn't happy about it. A key blurb from the article:

"The full details of Friday's agreement weren't being released until overnight as it was officially submitted to the House. But the picture already emerging is of legislation financed with a lot of one-time savings and cuts that officially "score" as savings to pay for spending elsewhere, but that often have little to no actual impact on the deficit.

As a result of the legerdemain, Obama was able to reverse many of the cuts passed by House Republicans in February when the chamber passed a bill slashing this year's budget by more than $60 billion. In doing so, the White House protected favorites like the Head Start early learning program, while maintaining the maximum Pell grant of $5,550 and funding for Obama's "Race to the Top" initiative that provides grants to better-performing schools.
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Before everyone jumps off the deep end, this is actually the first example of true compromise in a long time. One important aspect of negotiation is to allow your adversary to back out of the deal without losing face. The adversary for Obama here wasn't the Rebpublican leadership but rather the Tea Party. This deal allowed John Boehner to get it passed with the votes he needed and the votes Harry Reid needed in the Senate without Boehner having to rely upon the Mike Pences and Michele Bachmanns of the world.

This also allowed Pence and Bachmann to continue kowtowing to the Tea Party by voting 'Nay' on the continuing resolution.

See, everybody wins!

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