Living in the DC Bubble

Josh Marshall repeats some important points about the deficit fetishism that Obama embraced in his budget proposal:

Here's the key thing to keep in mind in this current round of budget politicking. President Obama has proposed some pretty substantial cuts to government spending. Sen. Sessions and other Republicans are saying it's not nearly enough. And ABC reports not only Republicans but some Democrats are saying it too.

But while Washington and much of the national political press (Norah O'Donnell, I'm lookin' at you) gets into a frenzy let's not forget that all the available public opinion data suggests the public either opposes this or considers it a low priority relative to job creation and other priorities. There's really not more to say than that. Douglas Holtz-Eakin just said on TV that the public spoke on this in the last election. Washington is acting as though it's chasing public opinion, public demands. But it's not. It's just not. That doesn't mean it's bad policy or good policy. But the public isn't on board with it. And there's virtually no demand for cuts to Social Security.

These people truly live in their own world. No one outside of David Brooks' house cares about this shit. It doesn't show up in polls, anywhere. All the smart economists say that the deficit problems are caused by the recession and rising health care costs, and that more spending is actually needed to turn around the economy.

There are actually people in the Obama Administration that think cutting heating assistance for poor people was a good political move.

I honestly have no clue how we combat that type of madness.