This is the most important chart of all. Ross Perot would have loved it.
What worries me is what worries Josh Marshall. There was little doubt that the GOP would "win" the last budget fight, because of the time constraints and the fact that half or more of the GOP caucus is batshit insane. They welcomed a shutdown.
But the really important fight comes next. And it sounds an awful lot like Obama is going to go through one of his preemptive cave ins/negotiating with himself routines.
The GOP/Ryan plan is a gift from the political gods. It allows for what Lenin called "heightening the contradictions", which is an essential part of any political fight. If Obama creates a GOP-lite budget, then there is no reason for voters to get rid of the GOP House majority, keep a Democratic Senate and return Obama to the White House. If Obama is simply a more rhetorically gifted Mitch Daniels, then what's the point?
One of the nice things about Obama the Candidate was that he really couldn't have cared less what the chattering classes said. I think it was Plouffe who said, "If Politico says we're losing, we're winning."
I hope Obama won't decide to be "serious" or "courageous". I hope he decides to be hopeful and compassionate.
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