Two thoughts on the Paul Ryan-Patty Murray budget deal. First, as The Wall Street Journal said this morning, the deal isn’t good; there are all kinds of problems with it. But it is the “least bad agreement” available. The alternative would probably be another government shutdown, and Republicans do not need another circular firing squad, like we had last October. Instead of the public focusing on Republicans shutting down the government, this deal gives us a chance to focus their attention on the inability of the Obama administration to run the government we currently have while at the same time trying to make it bigger.
Second, the only way this deal was done was that President Obama was not involved. Given that the deal can probably only pass the House with lots of Democratic votes, Speaker Boehner couldn't be involved. But President Obama could have been involved – except, of course, that he couldn’t. If this deal had depended on the President’s bargaining skills and ability to negotiate, it wouldn’t have happened. The President doesn’t seem to be able to handle people disagreeing with him, at least without belittling them and impugning their motives. The reason this deal got done was the he wasn’t involved.
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UPDATE (12/11/13 10:20 pm): I corrected Senator Murray's first name. I apologize for the error.
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