The midterm elections last month presented the country with the prospect of a deadlocked Congress, one that had been birthed by obstructionism, and one whose leadership measured success in terms of a zero-sum caged death-match.
Yesterday’s Capitol Hill deal – the White House traded two more years of the Bush tax cuts, an adjusted estate tax rate, and write-offs on business purchases for a payroll tax cut and year of unemployment benefits – suggested a new formula for gridlock. Democrats and Republicans engaged in major horse-trading, and they did so in a way that precluded long-term gains, while ensuring heightened conflict in the future, for all involved.
President Barack Obama sold the deal as “an essential step on the road to recovery.” At Slate, John Dickerson cast the compromise as a victory for common sense over hyper-partisanship. And The Atlantic crunched some numbers and decided a $60 billion tax cut for the wealthy was a small price to pay for “historic tax relief for average Americans.”
The compromise is being met by angry denunciations from the left and from the center: Today, both US Reps. Jim McGovern and Steve Lynch tell the Herald they won’t support the deal.
But the compromise also sets the stage for further deadlock. There’s a measure of irony in the timing of the White House’s trade with Congress, since it was announced just days after the White House’s deficit reduction panel endorsed a cost-cutting plan that’s politically unpalatable to the ideologies that dominate Washington. This week’s compromise is at odds with both the spirit and the substance of the bipartisan panel. It adds roughly $900 billion to a deficit that has suddenly become a hallmark campaign issue for the right, and it fails to bring any finality to the tax cut debate – one that may or may not actually help the economy.
Essentially, Obama and Republican Congressional leaders have decided to kick the can two years down the road, when Obama will be running for reelection, Republicans will be working to make good on Mitch McConnell’s vow to send the president to the unemployment line, and the tax cuts’ looming expiration will be fertile political ground for both sides. Because, apparently, there’s nothing like the heat of a presidential campaign to bring finality to an issue that’s stumping a lame duck Congress.
–PAUL MCMORROW
PROBATION
After recently scoffing at the idea of putting new hires in the scandal-wracked Probation Department under the state’s civil service system, House Speaker Robert DeLeo yesterday proposed doing just that. Here’s CommonWealth’s account, and here’s the Globe’s. The Globe story reports that DeLeo has brought on communications consultant Karen Schwartzman to help him put a lid on the probation story. Of course, news of her hiring has a bit of the opposite effect, signaling just how worried DeLeo is about getting hurt by the scandal. Among those DeLeo has recommended for probation jobs is his godson, who wound up becoming the youngest chief probation officer in the state. Meanwhile, a Lowell Sun editorial pans Gov. Deval Patrick’s bid to take control of the Probation Department and the push to place probation jobs under civil service, and DeLeo appears on WBUR to explain his probation plans.
EDUCATION
College completion rates for Boston public schools graduates are increasing, a trend being tied to the added rigor the high-stakes MCAS test has brought to the city’s schools.
The Globe reports that the Boston Teachers Union is mad that district leaders met with charter school officials to plan for the upcoming expansion of charter school, including the possible leasing of surplus BPS buildings to charters, prior to public discussion of proposed school closings.
BEACON HILL
Radio Boston looks at the challenge of seeking information under the Public Records Law.
ECONOMY
Is Raytheon laying the groundwork for some sort of tax break? The Eagle-Tribune reports that a study funded by Raytheon says the defense giant received $4.58 billion in federal contracts last year.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
Even though they have yet to encounter any problems, Weymouth school officials are eyeing a ban on teachers “friending” students on Facebook, according to the Patriot Ledger.
CENSORSHIP AND/OR OBSCENITY
A battle is brewing in downtown New Bedford over what is an appropriate display of art versus shielding children from seeing erotic images. A downtown business leader plastered flyers over a window of an art gallery next to where children were awaiting Santa Claus’ arrival, the Standard Times reports.
TRANSPORTATION
Universal Hub links to a blog about brand new bike lanes in Charlestown disappearing after a neighborhood association complained to city officials.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
The tiny western Mass. town of Ashfield is trying to save a few bucks by turning off street lights but asking residents to keep their front porch lights burning for pedestrian safety, according to the Greenfield Recorder.
A Haverhill city councilor suggests using excess cash at water department to fund refunds to customers, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
MEDIA
The revolving door continues at Boston magazine, where Andrew Putz is out as editor after less than 18 months at the helm.
NATIONAL POLITICS
Jim Braude, on NECN, shares his frustration with congressional compromises.
Paul Waldman, writing in the American Prospect, considers the falling degree of faith liberals have in the guy who was perhaps the best peddler of hope to ever hit the national political stage.
It’s really just an “inside baseball” kind of story about Republican jostling for plum posts when they take over the House next month, but the Weekly Standard unintentionally (we believe) has one of the better headlines of the transition season.
IMAGINE
In what could be some revisionist history, the American Conservative has a piece on the eve of the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder saying the pacifist Beatle was really an emerging Reagan Democrat – even though Ronald Reagan had yet to take office.
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