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**Dodoerabe** · 12-11-2010, 01:07 AM

I think I may actually agree with Krauthammer on some of the points he make in this column:

If Obama had asked for a second stimulus directly, he would have been laughed out of town. Stimulus I was so reviled that the Democrats banished the word from their lexicon throughout the 2010 campaign. And yet, despite a very weak post-election hand, Obama got the Republicans to offer to increase spending and cut taxes by $990 billion over two years. ...

The package will add as much as 1 percent to GDP and lower the unemployment rate by about 1.5 percentage points. That could easily be the difference between victory and defeat in 2012.

Obama is no fool. While getting Republicans to boost his own reelection chances, he gets them to make a mockery of their newfound, second-chance, post-Bush, Tea-Party, this-time-we're-serious persona of debt-averse fiscal responsibility. The loudest voices on the left arguing against this are focused solely on the tax giveaway to the rich. There's a lot more going on in this agreement. And unlike the political theater and histrionics that are grabbing headlines over the past few days, economists and analysts on both sides of the aisle are regarding this as a smart move, not a cave-in.

12-11-2010, 01:07 AM	#14
Dodoerabe Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 388 Senior Member	I think I may actually agree with Krauthammer on some of the points he make in this column: If Obama had asked for a second stimulus directly, he would have been laughed out of town. Stimulus I was so reviled that the Democrats banished the word from their lexicon throughout the 2010 campaign. And yet, despite a very weak post-election hand, Obama got the Republicans to offer to increase spending and cut taxes by $990 billion over two years. ... The package will add as much as 1 percent to GDP and lower the unemployment rate by about 1.5 percentage points. That could easily be the difference between victory and defeat in 2012. Obama is no fool. While getting Republicans to boost his own reelection chances, he gets them to make a mockery of their newfound, second-chance, post-Bush, Tea-Party, this-time-we're-serious persona of debt-averse fiscal responsibility. The loudest voices on the left arguing against this are focused solely on the tax giveaway to the rich. There's a lot more going on in this agreement. And unlike the political theater and histrionics that are grabbing headlines over the past few days, economists and analysts on both sides of the aisle are regarding this as a smart move, not a cave-in.
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