Despite his claims of victory, President Obama only further undermined his support among liberal Democrats when he cut a deficit deal with congressional Republicans that included no tax increases for the rich but could reduce entitlement programs that benefit the poor.
“Seeing a Democratic president take taxing the rich off the table and instead push a deal that will lead to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefit cuts is like entering a bizarre parallel universe,” said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
The deal to cut the deficit and raise the nation’s borrowing limit was the latest breach between Obama and his political base. Fellow Democrats have complained about Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan, his failure to close the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, and his failure to end Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, among other things. Liberals charge that Obama has been too quick to give in to Republican demands during difficult negotiations.
Obama’s decisions are widely seen as an attempt to win over independent and moderate Democratic votes, but Taylor said they have eroded his support among many in his own party. She said more than 200,000 people who gave more than $17 million to Obama in 2008 have pledged to withhold money and their volunteer time from his 2012 campaign if he agrees to entitlement cuts.
The deal that Obama and Congress reached late Sunday would make $2.4 trillion in cuts and raise the debt ceiling in time to avoid default, though many of those reductions would be made later by a special committee. It didn’t include any of the revenue increases on which Obama was insisting.
White House press secretary Jay Carney grew agitated Monday over the criticisms coming from Obama’s own party.
“The ink hasn’t even been printed on the paper yet, let alone signed into law, and we’re already talking about how it’s not substantial enough or what the next step is,” he said.
Despite the rebellion from within his own party, Obama still could gain politically from the deal, said Matt Bennett, vice president of the centrist group Third Way.
“The public really, really didn’t like the debate over the debt ceiling — they thought it was idiotic,” Bennett said. But “ultimately people will like the person that delivered the compromise … which Obama did.”
Obama also benefits from putting the debate over the nation’s deficit behind him, allowing him to refocus attention on jobs and the economy, the top concerns of voters.
“Part of the president’s problem is that half the country still believes we’re in a recession,” said David Rohde, a Duke University political science professor. But “if the economy improves then there’s almost no way that Obama wouldn’t get the credit for it.”
“By all logic, leaders in Washington should have been focused on restoring the economy to its potential” instead of bickering over raising the debt ceiling, said Dean Baker of the nonpartisan Center for Economic Policy and Research. “However, the anti-deficit lobby has managed to dominate public debate and essentially pushed the sputtering economy off the agenda for both the president and Congress.”
With that in mind, Obama is wasting no time jumping back on the campaign trail. He’ll attend two fundraisers in his hometown of Chicago on Wednesday.
