![]() WHO LOST TAXES! Why cant Obama propose the Clinton tax rates? Because our side lost that debate: // link // print // previous // next //
THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 The three Ezras: That horrible column by Ezra Klein deserves a second perusal (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 4/13/11). Its important that we not wash away its offensethe offense which formed its basic structure. What did Ezra Klein say in that column? Ezra Klein said this:
By the way: Youll note that Klein never actually said that Ryan has committed a major fraud against the American people. Thats the obvious judgment we ourselves reached after reading Kleins account of what he found in Ryans plan. Why did Ezra Klein say those strange things? In a column which would describe a vast fraud, why did he start by stressing the fact that he likes the person conducting the fraudthat he appreciates his approach to politics? In a column which would describe a vast fraud, why did Klein reinforce the flattering, novelized portrait which, by law, is so often attached to Major Republican figures? To answer that question, consider the three (possible) Ezras. Presumably, some combination of the three advanced those extremely strange statements: The first Ezra is a conniving careerist. He wants to be seen as a Serious Person within Establishment press corps culture. The second Ezra simply hopes to land an interview with Ryan. He figures that saying such foolish things might help him win that prize. The third Ezra is just a bit younga bit under-developed emotionally. He doesnt yet have the internal censors which would have told a sensible person how weird it was to vouch for Ryan that way. Which of the three possible Ezras produced that ridiculous framework? We have no idea. But we do know this: A few weeks ago, Klein wrote a ridiculous, uninformed, fawning piece about Michelle Rhees old org, The New Teacher Projectand damning those infernal teachers unions. As with Ryan, so with Rhee: She is widely portrayed within the upper-end press corps as a Serious, Courageous Person. (This is especially true at the Washington Post and NBC News, Kleins two current employers.) And sure enough! As with Ryan, so with Rhee: Klein signed up for the assignment of driving this framework along. See THE DAILY HOWLER, 3/3/11. What the heck makes Ezra run? We have no idea. But liberals have tolerated this garbage for decades. We are a very easy peopleeasy to vanquish, that is. Ezra ought to go sit in the corner. People who write that way about public frauds fit into Establishment Washington well. But they themselves are committing a fraud against progressive interests.
Why dont we so-called progressives complain when this sort of thing happensand happens, and happens, and happens? Why dont progressives scream like hell when liberals advance these well-scripted claims? INTERLUDEWHO LOST TAXES (permalink): Was Walter Mondale courageous? In 1984, the fiery candidate ingested a snootful. He then spoke the truth to the people. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I, Mondale said, accepting nomination at the Democratic convention. He won't tell you. I just did. Sure enough! The re-elected Reagan went on to raise taxes, just as Mondale said. But did telling the truth on that vast public stage make Walter Mondale courageous? In this mornings New York Times, Nicholas Kristof briefly alludes to that famous moment:
Sensibly enough, Kristof wants higher taxesbut he remembers what happened to Mondale in that years election. Back in June 2010, we noted what happened to Walter Mondale within the mainstream press (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 6/14/10). Down through the years, Mondale has often been mocked by big pundits for having told the truth to the people! On the occasion of our post, the Washington Posts Sunday Outlook section had included Mondales accurate statement in a list of spectacularly ill-advised, tone-deaf, insulting or untrue remark[s]. Mondales truthful statement was lumped in with Marion Barrys Bitch set me upwith Bill Clintons claim that he did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. Walter Mondales accurate statement was listed with George Allens macaca moment, with Don Imus thoughtful remarks about those nappy-headed hos. (The list was inspired by Helen Thomas statement that people in Israelor perhaps in the settlementsshould just go home to Poland. Today, as then, we can find no link to this unsigned, high-profile feature.)
Alas! In July 1984, Mondale made his accurate statement at the start of a highly novelized eraan era in which a string of major Republican figures would be lionized, in mainstream press novels, for their courage, their boldness, their honesty. (Starting with Clinton, Major Dems were big liars, feckless flip-floppers.) Paul Ryan is just the latest example; he has been widely praised for the courage it took to offer a kooky-con budget plan which seems to be based on some ludicrous numbers. This morning, Kristof calls for a return to the Clinton tax rates, saying that single step would solve three-quarters of the deficit for the next five years or so. In the wake of Obamas speech, this raises a question: Who lost taxes? What makes it so hard for Democrats to call for higher taxes, even when its fairly obvious that higher taxes are needed? If a simple return to the Clinton tax rates would solve so much of our deficit problem, why cant Obama simply propose it? And oh yes: Why havent you seen this possibility promoted by a string of Big Major Pundits? (It has been promoted on blogs.)
Who lost taxes? For ourselves, were not sure that an instant return to the Clinton tax rates would be the greatest idea. Were not even sure that this would be part of a best possible long-range plan. But why would it be so hard to return to rates which obtained just a few years ago? Why havent you seen this idea more widely debated? Good God, but our intellectual leaders have been inept through the years! Is there any area where they have succeeded in keeping hopeand sound understandingalive? Yesterday, in the course of his speech, Obama did a darn good job advancing a progressive view of society. He advanced a picture which helps explain and justify the possible need for higher taxes:
Later, Obama extended this progressive vision, in which our nation is a community and we are an actual people. Its a vision in which the word we is extended to all the people. I will preserve these health care programs as a promise we make to each other, he said (our emphasis). Later, he went to the heart of this vision: We have to think about our fellow citizens with whom we share a community. Question: Do we really share a community with a bunch of our fellow citizens? As citizens, do we share a future with 300 million others, many of whom we dont know? The answer to that isnt obvious. There is also an atomized vision of our societya vision in which each person, each family, each local community must simply fend for itself. And by the way: The instincts which produce that vision are bred deep in the American bone. Starting even before the Mayflower, this country has a pioneer tradition, in which various folk struck out on their own, taking their personal chances. Conservatives have pushed very hard in the last thirty years to advance that atomized vision. Nor is it obvious that their vision aint basically right. But as conservatives have pushed and clawed to advance that vision, we liberals have slumbered, snoozed, snored and failed. When have you seen major liberal intellectual leaders approaching the American people with the vision that we actually are a people? (When have you seen major liberal intellectual leaders approach the people at all?) Dont we spend a great deal more time telling various parts of the public that theyre racist, stupid, very bad people? Doesnt this undermine the notion that were a community? That were all in the same big national tribe? That were all part of each other? Tomorrow, well turn to Mark Twains ineffectual mob, recalling the way the liberal world has managed to lose so many debates. And by the way: Who lost taxes? In 2007, Candidate Obama took the pledge, just as Candidate George H. W. Bush did in 1988. No new taxes, Obama said, except on income above a quarter million dollars. We dont blame Obama for having taken the pledgebut it showed that wed lost one more debate. Today, the New York Times editorial board advances a truly clueless idea: In his speech, Obama should have remind[ed] those in the middle class that their income taxes remain low and will need to go up. Please. If Obama had proposed such a thing, you would hear cries of Read my lips for the next two years. Barack Obama took the pledge, like the Republican Bush before him. This represented the fact that we liberals had lost one more debate. (Note: December 2012 would be the perfect time for Obama to break that pledge by letting the Bush tax rates expire, thus restoring the Clinton rates.) Someone did a crappy job in letting us lose that latest debate, the debate about the role of taxes. Tomorrow, well visit an ineffectual mob which came from the mind of Mark Twain. Weve often thought of that mob in the past few yearsoften, when our side is talking. When Mondale spoke truth to people: Mondale told the truth about taxes. But at the pre-addled New York Times, that was not the big story. In 1999, Gay Jervey quoted former Times honcho Bill Kovach about that very same night. The ex-Timesman recalled Maureen Dowds keen eye on that historic occasion:
Kovach never sued Jervey for what she wrote. (Her profile of Dowd appeared in Brills Content.) On that basis, well have to assume that Kovach actually said those things.
Who lost taxes? At the beginning, Maureen Dowd was there. Mondale wasnt courageous.
|