But the president’s tone, like Tuesday in Northern Virginia, was again softer than it was last week. Asked by an attendee if Ryan’s plan was bold, Obama answered, “The Republican budget that was put forward I would say is fairly radical. I wouldn’t call it particularly courageous. I do think Mr. Ryan is sincere. I think he’s a patriot. I think he wants to solve a real problem, which is our long-term deficit. But I think that what he and the other Republicans in the House of Representatives also want to do is change our social compact in a pretty fundamental way.”
Of course, there's the usual talk about "partisan bickering." Umm, folks, there is a difference between legitimate disagreement style partisanship and demagoguery style partisanship. Let me show you the difference...
Legitimate disagreement partisanship goes like this: America has a problem, and we are exploring two different and realistic ways to solve it. One side wants to fundamentally alter the national social compact to continue lowering taxes - already the lowest in about 60 years - for the wealthiest Americans based on the theory that those low taxes will create jobs they haven't been able to create previously. The other side wants to restore tax rates to levels comparable to those under the Clinton Administration, roughly the second lowest in about 60 years. Neither of these actions, taken alone, will solve our problems, and the idea that either helps solve our problems are based on economic projections and estimations of what will happen to our economy in the future. That's the way Obama and Ryan are talking right now.
Contrast that with demogoguery style partisanship, like we've heard for the last two years from certain folks: OMG TEH KENYAN ANTICOLONIALIZMS! TEH WEALTH REDISTRIBUTIONIZMS! TEH COMMUNIST FASCIZMS! THE ATHEIST ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALIZMS!! TEH ANTI-AMERICANIZMS! TEH BURF CURTIFICATEZ!! TEH VICTORY MOSQUES AT TEH GROUND ZEROIZMS!! TEH ILLEGAL IMMIGRATIONIZMS! TEH DEATH PANELIZMS!!
See the difference? Now, which one would you rather deal with?
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