Krauthammer: Obama Beat the GOP

Should Democrats cheer up about the tax deal? One of their opponents, Charles Krauthammer, thinks so. He says that, in exchange for extending the Bush tax cuts, President Obama got “the biggest stimulus in American history … This is a defeat?” He begrudgingly admires the president’s coup: “Obama is no fool. While getting Republicans to boost his own reelection chances, he gets them to make a mockery of their newfound, second-chance, post-Bush, Tea-Party, this-time-we're-serious persona of debt-averse fiscal responsibility.” Paul Krugman, however, disagrees: “The deal essentially sets up 2011-2012 to be a repeat of 2009-2010. Once again, there would be initial benefits from the stimulus, and decent growth a year before the election. But as the stimulus faded, growth would tend to stall—and this stall would, once again, come in the months leading up to the election, with seriously negative consequences for Mr. Obama and his party.”