Okay, I’ll admit the title of this post doesn’t really say anything. My toaster is smarter than most Republicans.
But let’s focus specifically on the budget and tax negotiations. As I explained the other day, we basically have a situation where the President wants to trick GOPers into jumping out of the “fiscal cliff” frying pan and into the Obama class-warfare fire.
The frying pan is not a good option since it means a return of Clinton-era tax rates (but unfortunately not a return to Clinton-era levels of spending and regulation), but at least there would also be “sequestration,” which is budget-wonk term for automatic reductions in the growth of government spending.
Obama’s class-warfare fire, by contrast, is nothing but bad news. The tax increases might not be as large in the short run, but they would be designed to impose maximum damage on the economy. And the sequester would disappear. Indeed, Obama’s actually demanding more Keynesian stimulus!
The President says (with a straight face, so he does have acting talent) that he also wants “spending cuts” as part of his “balanced approach.”
Gullible Republicans seem to think this is just peachy keen, but here is the work of some cartoonists with a more realistic assessment. We’ll start with my favorite, from Robert Ariail, if for no other reason than it builds upon a cartoon I created for this 2011 post.
Here are two cartoons about that share the same theme, putting Obama in the role of Wimpy from the Popeye series. If that’s not a familiar cultural reference (i.e., if you’re not as old as me), watch this YouTube clip.
And here’s the cartoon version of a post I wrote back in 2011.
Here’s one from the great Michael Ramirez, acknowledging the President’s willingness to meet his opponents halfway.
Let’s now close with two really good additions to this collection. Here’s one mocking Republicans for their naiveté.
Last but not least, here’s one showing that Obama prefers the European version of a “balanced approach” rather than the version I put together.
By the way, here’s another original bit of Dan Mitchell humor – the very simple two-line Barack Obama flat tax.