Saturday, July 16, 2011

The Kloppy Gambit gets played

In reading blogs today I've noticed that several posts (here, here, and here) linked to articles with the thrust that Obama has won the budget debate. This strikes me as rather odd since the debate is ongoing, no budget bill has been written or voted on yet and his numbers are crashing. Seems a bit premature to be declaring victory. 
Question: How do you feel comfortable declaring victory when the margin is so thin? Justice Prosser’s supporters seem to think that they may be able to pull out a victory in a recount process.

Kloppenburg: You know, we ran a campaign that was focused on being positive and respectful and winning and we did win and we're confident that the margin will hold... because we've enjoyed a broad and deep State-wide support and we’re gratified that the numbers showed that.
In the Wisconsin Supreme Court election JoAnne "Kloppy" Kloppenburg declared victory based on a 204 vote lead from a preliminary ballot count. When pressed on her victory claim in a press conference she clung to the notion that the Wisconsin voters had spoken and that was that. She had won, and that's all there was to it.

Of course, what Kloppy was doing was trying to establish the perception of victory before all the chips were in. Once the perception is set in stone the reality follows. That's all these articles are doing -- trying to create the perception of Obama's victory as the talks and legislating are still going forward.  

This is just the Kloppy Gambit gone national. Push back against it.
 

2 comments:

OMMAG said...

Budget was tapped in May ....
Where's the money coming from that the government has been spending since then?

The whole situation vis a vis debt ceiling negotiaions is an artificial set .... a stage for the actors to play out their roles.

There are no winners ... there are only suckers to be fleeced ... to have their pockets picked while watching the marionets dance on the political stage.

ambisinistral said...

OMMAG,

I think I've read the same thing, that the budget ceiling was actually passed in May. Then again, accounting tricks can probably push the date forwards and backwards. For whatever reason the August date is the one they settled on.

I think much of the frenzy coming out of Obama is the deadline for the expiration of the Bush tax rates. If I recall correctly, they're due to expire in 2012, before the election.

I think he is frantically trying to get that deadline moved via these talks. In spite of his ridiculous claim the 80% of the public wants tax increases, I'm sure he knows that would be a tough issue for him in the campaign.