For the first part of New Year's Day, I thought the far-left "Obama caved" crowd would take the prize for the most insane political faction of the day considering how, as soon as a deal was reached, they accused the president of capitulating to the Republicans, even though the deal was quite good given the alternatives. But then the House Republicans stepped onto the stage and posed a serious challenge to the insanity on the far-left by engaging in further sabotage and brinksmanship before finally voting to pass the deal.
So no, the "Obama caved" left wasn't responsible for the only infuriating responses to the deal, but they were infuriating nevertheless because, after all, liberals are supposed to be the smart, rational ones. Sadly, that wasn't the case. Again.
As soon as the deal was announced on New Year's Eve, the far-left kneejerked into its predictable boilerplate apoplexy: calling for the president's head with the scripted refrains of "He betrayed the left! IEEEEEE!" even though the fiscal cliff deal is mostly composed of a 4.6 percent tax hike on the top tax bracket returning it to the Clinton-era level, along with an extension of unemployment benefits for long-term jobless Americans, and $15 billion in spending cuts. $600 billion in revenue versus $15 billion in cuts. By the way, the $30 billion in unemployment benefits will result in $48.6 billion in economic growth, per Moody's calculations. Good news and a good investment in the economy. [continue reading]