Politics: Obama’s Clintonian triangulation
Posted in Politics with tags obama, stimulus, triangulation on February 24, 2009 by Billy DennisFrom Wikipedia:
Triangulation is the name given to the act of a political candidate presenting his or her ideology as being “above” and “between” the “left” and “right” sides (or “wings”) of a traditional (e.g. UK or US) democratic “political spectrum”. It involves adopting for oneself some of the ideas of one’s political opponent (or apparent opponent). The logic behind it is that it both takes credit for the opponent’s ideas, and insulates the triangulator from attacks on that particular issue. Opponents of triangulation, who believe in a fundamental “left” and “right”, consider the dynamic a deviation from its “reality” and dismiss those that strive for it as whimsical.
And now consider this paragraph:
Urging strict future restraint even as current spending soars, President Barack Obama pledged on Monday to dramatically slash the skyrocketing annual budget deficit as he started to dole out the record $787 billion economic stimulus package he signed last week.
Emphasis mine.
Here’ an idea, Mr. President: Introduce legislation recinding those part of the stimulus package that do nothing put prop up state and local government programs. Leave only those part that put people to work by funding infrastructure project, like roads and bridges.
