"HERETIC!!!"
That is what leftwingers will be screaming at their computer monitors when they read The New Republic article by Ruy Teixeira in which he praises President Barack Obama for agreeing to extend the Bush tax cuts which are so hated by liberals. Even worse, he claims that the Bush tax cuts extension will improve the economy to the extent that they could improve Obama's re-election chances. Well, there are a lot of other factors at play which will serve to keep the economy in its current doldrums but what Teixeira specifically says about the Bush tax cuts are enough to send liberal blood pressures through the roof over his "heresy." Here a few "heretical" tidbits from Teixeira:
...Far from dividing Obama's coalition, the tax-cut deal is brilliant move that could cement it, in the process winning back some of the white working-class voters who deserted the Democrats in 2010. That's because Democrats' devastating defeat in the midterm elections resulted primarily from the weak economy and the government’s perceived failure to improve it, not from any lack of resoluteness in upholding liberal principles or applying liberal rhetoric. Therefore, the central task for the Obama administration after the election was—and is—to improve the economy by any means necessary.
....And Obama's $858 billion package of tax cuts, tax credits, and unemployment benefits will in effect deliver a second economic stimulus, albeit not one any progressive—or sane—economist would have dreamed up on their own. In a world where unemployment barely budged and GDP growth couldn’t get above 3 percent, Obama's re-election would be in considerable doubt. But with the tax-cut deal, there should be a significant decline in unemployment (though the absolute level will remain high) and a more robust growth rate, including during quarters two and three of election year, which political scientists tell us is particularly important to electoral outcomes.
So is Teixeira just some registered Democrat who actually holds conservative views? Nope. His liberal credentials are well established by the fact that he co-wrote "The Emerging Democratic Majority" in 2002 as well as being a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. In addition, Teixeira's disdain for Republicans can be seen in this quote by him which appeared in NewsBusters last November:
"The outlook for Republicans is even worse than people think," says Ruy Teixeira, author of The Emerging Democratic Majority. "Their biggest problem is that they really believe what they believe."
And the problem for Teixeira is that he is sure to catch holy hell from his fellow leftists for admitting that the Bush Tax Cuts are good for the economy. Of course, Teixeira will also need to convince Obama to expand oil drilling and exploration, eliminate many regulations hindering business, and work to repeal ObamaCare among other things in order to bring the economy back to the robust way it was...during the Bush administration.
UPDATE: Apparently Teixeira had some sort of economic "conversion" over the past six months. Here is what he wrote on the subject of the Bush tax cuts last December:
Conservatives’ devotion to tax cuts for the rich also shows their lack of seriousness about tackling the deficit problem. Ending the Bush tax cuts for the rich would save $700 billion over 10 years but those savings are obviously far less important to them than their ideological antitax, pro-wealthy agenda.
So what caused Teixeira to see the light over the past few months? Perhaps he needs to write an article to detail his "conversion" to economic good sense on this one issue. Inquiring minds would like to know.
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