Has Hillary renounced the "Grand Bargain"?

[Karmadillo]

http://www.vox.com/2016/2/4/10910576/hillary-clinton-grand-bargain

Hillary Clinton's real theory of change can work — but liberals may not like all the changes
Updated by Matthew Yglesias on February 4, 2016

Bernie Sanders's single-payer health care plan is a nonstarter in Congress. But so is the paid parental leave and tax hikes on the rich that both he and Hillary Clinton support. So are the various gun control ideas they argue about. From a distance, it can look like Sanders and Clinton are essentially squabbling over total hypotheticals, with him offering utopian schemes that can't possibly happen and her offering somewhat less utopian schemes that also can't happen.

But the fact is that there are a range of small- to medium-size initiatives a theoretical President Clinton could realistically achieve with a Republican Congress that moderate Democrats think will boost the American economy and that a Sanders administration likely wouldn't pursue.

These are the kinds of things that deserve to be highlighted more in the primary campaign, but aren't partially because Clinton doesn't talk about them — in part because they're kind of boring, but also because they're not necessarily all things liberals will like.

<edit>

The Grand Bargain: This is the big one, and of course you should never count on it happening. But recall that back in 2011, the Obama administration and John Boehner were close to reaching an agreement on a deal that would cut Medicare and Social Security spending while raising taxes on high-income households.

It fell apart, but mainstream Democratic economic policy aides still think it's a good idea and John Boehner says its collapse is his greatest regret. What's more, in 2017 — unlike in 2011 — there will be a plausible argument that the deficit is actually a problem that's worth addressing. Borrowing as a share of GDP will likely be rising then, not falling, and interest rates should be above zero with the unemployment rate below 5 percent.

more...