NOT GOING TO HAPPEN

I was cheered by the President's speech on the economy yesterday. I do not have the knowledge to provide my own analysis of the economic policies he sketched out, but his critics on the left can no longer complain about a lack of clarity on the social issues. Obama's unambiguous dismissal of the Ryan budget plan made clear his differences with Republican ideologues, who make no bones about their intention to dismantle virtually every government program that serves the poor, the elderly, the sick and the disabled--and shift the savings over into the hands of the already rich and comfortable.

Two commitments stood out in the speech: that the President will not allow Medicare to be converted into a voucher program that will enrich the insurance companies on the backs of the elderly; and that he will not permit any further extension of the disastrous Bush Tax cuts.

The Republican redistribution of wealth into the hands of the already wealthy must be halted. I see--and hear--not a single voice on the right that strays from the cut-the-spending AND cut-taxes party line. Decades of experience have now made it abundantly clear that cutting taxes does not raise revenues; and that spending cuts serve only to threaten recovery from recession. Obama succeeded in quietly eviscerating these tired Republican mantras. I thought his speech was a superb and persuasive reminder that our greatness, as a nation, is not the result of small-mindedness and parsimony, but rather of our breadth of vision, our expansive view of an always better future, and our generosity.