tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post8130469901997895175..comments2024-03-02T09:41:35.809-08:00Comments on Donkeylicious - A Blog by Neil Sinhababu and Nicholas Beaudrot: Obama's Glass: More Than Half-Full In Some Places; Less In OthersNeil Sinhababuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03249327186653397250noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-3108629474135545712010-12-21T00:42:47.558-08:002010-12-21T00:42:47.558-08:00Low expectations, indeed... And a fair amount of r...Low expectations, indeed... And a fair amount of rationalization, too. "most progressive president since LBJ ... better than what would have happened under a Republican administration" -- are we measuring "progress" in counterfactual terms now? (Is Berlusconi progressive because at least he didn't start a fascist movement?) Progressive, my foot...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-39836331886972198132010-12-20T16:55:39.625-08:002010-12-20T16:55:39.625-08:00Well, I agree it's difficult to quantify. Let ...Well, I agree it's difficult to quantify. Let me try a few ways. :) These are, obviously, rough.<br /><br />* 60-vote threshold. If we accept this, I agree he's an A-.<br /><br />* Larger stimulus - you could run models of +25% to +100% and see how they would have affected unemployment. I'm not sure what the range for extra stimulus would have been, but I think +25-100% is reasonable.<br /><br />* I think people have quantified public option/non-public option differences during the big debate, no?<br /><br />* You could quantify the effects of Medicare-for-All (single-payer) as a baseline for HCR.<br /><br />* How many undocumented immigrants are there that would/could gain citizenship? The effects of the DREAM Act?<br /><br />* Carbon Pricing -> global warming. Maybe there weren't 50 votes for a full-on version, but perhaps a half-assed compromise could have passed.<br /><br />* Overall tax rates - go back to Clinton rates for those over $250k.<br /><br />* Appointees confirmed. Fed chairs? Judges? Assistant to the undersecretary of state's office manager in east MadeUpistan?<br /><br />* Time wasted waiting for filibusters to ripen on votes that passed easily. (I am conflating a 50-vote threshold with time-sink reforms ... but I don't think that's too unfair.)<br /><br /><br /><br />NOTE: Iraq, DADT, Afghanistan are probably about as good as could be expected from what we heard from O's campaign. Civil liberties not so much. If O really cared about civil liberties he would use them to investigate Fox News, Rush, & Palin. Only then will R's repeal them.wsnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15244361716069083023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-906319874260288672010-12-20T15:51:50.474-08:002010-12-20T15:51:50.474-08:00Seriously, though, compared to what? Yes, he could...Seriously, though, compared to what? Yes, he could have done a better job on judicial and executive branch appointments. But HCR is really the lynchpin of the welfare state, DADT happened, and we're more or less done with Iraq. Afghanistan is a downer, but how much of one? At the very least it was clear in '09 that he was unhappy with the generals' lack of exit planning and forced them to think about it. Civil liberties is a wreck but name me the modern President who has voluntarily curtailed civil liberties abuses. Accepting the 60 vote threshold might have led to better HCR and finreg proposals, and a larger stimulus, but by how much? This seems like a difficult problemt to quantify.Nick Beaudrothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02794690208464883973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-82958507907587928982010-12-20T10:06:08.817-08:002010-12-20T10:06:08.817-08:00A-? Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectatio...A-? Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. ;)<br /><br />In my mind, the biggest problem was accepting the 60 vote threshold as legitimate. <br /><br />I just can't give him higher than B to B+ because of that. It's subjective, but when we will have such majorities again?wsnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15244361716069083023noreply@blogger.com