“As you may know, President Obama initially tried to strike a ‘Grand Bargain’ with Republicans over taxes and spending. To do so, he not only chose not to make an issue of G.O.P. extortion, he offered extraordinary concessions … Obama effectively staked out a position that was not only far to the right of the average voter’s preferences, it was if anything a bit to the right of the average Republican voter’s preferences.
“But Republicans rejected the deal. So what was the headline on an Associated Press analysis of that breakdown in negotiations? ‘Obama, Republicans Trapped by Inflexible Rhetoric.’ A Democratic president who bends over backward to accommodate the other side — or, if you prefer, who leans so far to the right that he’s in danger of falling over — is treated as being just the same as his utterly intransigent opponents. Balance!”
— Paul Krugman, The New York Times, 29 July 2011
(sketch & painting of Zatanna by Alex Ross)
