Round 234: Obama 1, Liberals 0

Triggered by an apocalyptic Washington Post article, I wrote a blurb last night blasting a purported "rebellion on the left" that Obama faced over his budget cutting plans. Once again, I angrily typed, the WaPo allowed itself to become a conduit for the elite left's ceaseless whining. In the end, I didn't post my rant, thinking it too long on emotion and too short on reasoned argument. Happily, WaPo's own Adam Serwer and Salon's Steve Kornacki did it for me today. (Read their takes here and here.) Moreover, the left's prophecy of Obama's impending sell-out and overall Democratic doom proved wrong, again.

A sampling of progressive responses to Obama's speech:

Steve Benen (Washington Monthy): "He didn't pull any punches -- what made his remarks this afternoon especially satisfying was his defense of the progressive vision. ... There were concerns among some of my fellow progressives going into this speech that the president may accept parts of the GOP plan or express some sympathies for the Republican vision. The opposite happened -- this was a full-throated condemnation, not just of the radical Paul Ryan plan, but of the far-right goals it intends to pursue."

Jon Chait (New Republic): "He beat Ryan and the Republicans to a bloody pulp. He expressed moral outrage in a way I've never heard him do before, and in a way I didn't think he was capable of."

Paul Krugman (NY Times): "Substance: Much better than many of us feared. Overall, way better than the rumors and trial balloons. I can live with this."
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/the-budget-speech/

Andrew Sullivan (Daily Dish): A "classic pivot against the left. 'Doing nothing' is not an option. Calls out progressives for not seeking to prove that government can get leaner and more effective in delivering liberal goals."

E.D. Kain (Balloon Juice): "Yes, I was worried that Democrats were losing the narrative-arms-race. If the president’s speech is any indication, I was wrong. ... More like this, please."

John Cole (Balloon Juice): "All the chicken little shit about Obama going after Medicare and Medicaid seems to have been, well, a little premature (which now means the usual suspects will spend the next few days furiously congratulating themselves that their outcry on blogs is what changed Obama’s mind)."

The prosecution rests.