The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan (May 21, 2008)

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21 May 2008 12:13 pm

Obama And The Farm Bill

A reader writes:

As a long-time reader, please, please, please address how you can square support for Obama with his support for the monstrosity that is the current farm bill. Any lingering desire to punish Republicans for the past eight years of profligacy has vanished due to the contrast between McCain's principled stand against sugar subsidies and ethanol follies, and Obama's craven backing of a bill that contributes not insignificantly to the looming fiscal debacle without even the semblance of sound policy arguments behind it. I guess the new politics does not negate the fact that the White House is indeed worth a mass (of Iowa corn).

Obama's pandering on this is pathetic. McCain deserves real kudos. And this does matter: standing up to this kind of craven welfarism is important.

But again, no Democrat has done or could have done as much damage to spending restraint than the current president and Republican party and McCain is running as Bush's heir, wheter he lieks it or not. The current Republicans, moreover, made this kind of spending legitimate - and they voted en masse in favor it as well. I suspect McCain would be a marginally better president on spending than Obama - he voted against the Medicare prescription benefit, after all. But he won't tackle entitlements or defense - and they are the only real items that make a significant difference. And his insistence on no tax hikes also means he would leave a bigger debt than Obama would. That's the choice. It's not an easy one fiscally.

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