A reader writes:
I’m sure Nate Silver is right that that “See, this is proof that lower taxes work” may be the Republican line, but consider this: the only significant change to current tax policy is the proposed payroll tax cutand that only applies to only the first $107,000 of income. So if the argument is that this deal was the right stimulus, it is an argument for cutting middle and working class taxes, not those of the top 2%.
Of course, for that to mean anything would require that rational argument mean something in American politics. And Obama effectively conceded yesterday that it does not. He won this argument on the merits, and lost it on the politics. That’s why I suspect his confidence in winning the politics in two years is misplacedhe’ll win on the merits again, and lose on the politics again.
I'm not so cynical about the intelligence of the American voter.