The Tradeoff

Josh Marshall points to a little-noticed emerging theme among Democrats in Congress and the White House's apparent acquiescence, if not dowright support.
It's called for lack of a catchier term, entitlement reform, the notion of getting Social Security and Medicare under control.
I'm all for both, as long as I don't take a hit.
But more importantly, I'm sort of thinking it steals some anticipated Republican thunder in the upcoming mid-term elections, especially for the conservative Dems who must run again in shaky districts.
So, yeah, there's reform, and then there's reform politics.
With populist hueing and crying, some newsworthy items from the proposed commission just might dampen the anti-government flame that burns beneath the surface.
Oh, and for their trouble, the threatened Democrats go along on health care reform.
Kabuki, I tells ya.
Krugman says deficits aren't really any big deal and scratches his head in wonderment. But if you look at it not from an economic perspective, but from a political one, it makes much more sense.