EJ Dionne -- The End of Progressive Government?

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_end_of_progressive_government_20110403/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Truthdig+Truthdig%3A+Drilling+Beneath+the+Headlines&utm_content=Twitter

So far, our nation’s budget debate has been a desultory affair focused on whether a small slice of the federal government’s outlays should be cut by $33 billion or $61 billion, or whatever.

But Americans are about to learn how much is at stake in our larger budget fight, how radical the new conservatives in Washington are, and the extent to which some politicians would transfer even more resources from the have-nots and have-a-littles to the have-a-lots.

And you wonder: Will President Obama welcome the responsibility of engaging the country in this big argument, or will he shrink from it? Will his political advisers remain robotically obsessed with poll results about the 2012 election, or will they embrace Obama’s historic obligation—and opportunity—to win the most important struggle over the role of government since the New Deal?

This week, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., will announce the House Republicans’ budget plan that is expected to include cuts in many programs for the neediest Americans.

More at the link --

[scarletwoman]

1. Sorry, E.J., I don't wonder anymore. In fact, I'm quite certain Obama will not evince the slightest

interest in "engaging the country in this big argument".

He'll keep his cards close to the vest, huddle behind closed doors with a few select politicos, and eventually announce (with carefully worded regrets) that he had no choice but to give the Republicans just about everything they want.

Surely the pattern has become clear enough by now.

sw

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Yeah.

Hi, SW. :loveya:

[scarletwoman]

3. Hey, Jackpine!

:loveya: back atcha!

[bbgrunt]

5. exactly. It is opinion pieces such as this that keep

people hoping that O. will finally "get it". They refuse to be honest. They dance around the truth and suggest that maybe things will change in the future. A bunch of hogwash.

[scarletwoman]

4. kick

[kentuck]

6. We had better be paying attention.

It's our lives they are attempting to destroy.

This is the death of the Democratic Party if we are unsuccessful in fighting this. Because, escept for the fringe issues of each Party, they would both be supporting the same thing.