Obama diminished by debt debacle? Analysts think so ANALYSIS 08/03/2011

Obama diminished by debt debacle? Analysts think so

ANALYSIS

08/03/2011
WASHINGTON — A bruised President Barack Obama pulled the US economy back from the brink of disaster with a last-gasp debt deals, but at the cost of enraging his base by capitulating to foes ahead of his 2012 reelection bid, analysts said.

“He and the Democrats got rolled,” political science professor Dante Scala at the University of New Hampshire told AFP, offering his blunt assessment of Obama’s efforts to secure a deal that meets fiscal and moral muster with his Democrats.

“In the short term, he has (taken a hit),” Scala said. Even with a deal crafted that would avert a calamitous first-ever US default, “he’s certainly lost this particular battle.”

Obama faces fury from liberals who tarred him as a spineless compromiser for dropping his demand for tax revenues from the wealthy to balance out spending cuts, even though he managed to raise the debt ceiling through the end of 2012, after the election, and keep entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare untouched..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110803com3.html