Why I’m (Reasonably) Happy and (Cautiously) Optimistic about the Fiscal Cliff Deal

          Yeah, I get it. Congress didn't really do anything but solve a  phony crisis of its own making. And nearly everybody I know is unhappy about the deal. Conservatives hate it because it increases taxes a lot more than it cuts spending. Liberals hate it because fails to soak the moderately rich and leaves the door open to too many cuts down the line. And pragmatists point out that, pragmatically, it doesn’t really do very much to change the current, highly dysfunctional environment in which budget choices are being made. 

       All of this is true, of course. But I would humbly suggest that it is not the point. Here is the point: they did something when doing something was hard, and we all need to show our appreciation so that they will do some more of it.
       And, make no mistake about it, what they did was hard. The debate over taxes and spending occurs at the core of what E.J. Dionne calls “our divided political heart,” which is to say that it flows directly from the different moral sensibilities that make some people ”liberal” and other people “conservative.” Those of us on both sides of the issue know that we are right with the same depth and conviction that we know everything else in the world worth knowing. And the things that we know are, ultimately, incompatible with the things that other people know.
       And this is why I am (reasonably) happy and (cautiously) optimistic about this week’s fiscal cliff compromise. As modest as it is, and as dysfunctional as we still are, I think that at least four things happened during the negotiations that needed to happen and that bode well for the future:

• Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell have emerged as a negotiators who can actually work together AND deliver the votes. Negotiation is often about personal chemistry, and, though I have no idea whether or not Biden and McConnell like each other, it is clear that their negotiating chemistry works better than either Harry Reid and anybody or President Obama and anybody. As a result, the Senate voted for the proposal 89-8, a level of unanimity that we have yet to see in budget discussions.

• John Boehner has emerged as an actual individual who is in charge of the House of Representatives. In previous negotiations, Boehner has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tea Party, with Eric Cantor wielding the actual power in the Republican caucus. This time, Boehner emerged from the shadow, either because he has become more willing to fight or because (more likely) his hand within his own caucus has been strengthened by the recent election results, which were not favorable to the Party of Tea.

• The “Hastert Rule” appears to have fallen. For years, House Republicans have operated under an informal agreement that they will not bring anything to a full House vote that has not been approved by a majority of the Republican caucus—thus ensuring that moderate Republicans never join with Democrats to pass legislation offensive to ultra-conservatives. Boehner broke the rule, and, as a result, moderate Republicans joined with Democrats to pass legislation offensive to ultra-conservatives. This can only be a good thing.

• Grover Norquist is under the bus where he belongs. Yes, Grover is going to say that this legislation does not raise taxes. Technically, he is correct, since taxes went up on everybody for a few hours before this vote brought them down again. But this is obvious spin designed to preserve the mystique of the tax pledge going into future negotiations. Taxes went up—albeit not much and not on very many people—but they went up none the less. And, during the process, a number of high-profile Republicans rejected the “taxpayer protection pledge” on principle. Grover Norquist will (hopefully) never again have the power over Congress that he had during the last term. And that (for me) is an unqualified good.

         So, while it is certainly true that Congress is spending the day congratulating themselves for not having done much, they did do some things, and those things have had reasonably encouraging results. Not guaranteed results, of course, just encouraging. And this is why I say let them celebrate and give them all of the positive feedback you can muster. The feedback loop is crucial. When you are training a dog, you have to give it a small treat and say "good doggy" each time it makes the tiniest move in the right direction. Even if this current bill is only "not piddling on the carpet," we need to pat our representatives on the head so that, some day, they will learn how to roll over and beg like good doggies should.

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