Good deal for Tea Party, bad for Democrats

I hope Democrats are not supposed to like the budget deal President
Obama struck at the eleventh hour on Friday night, because I sure don’t.

What did Tea Party Republicans get out of this deal? A total $80 billion
in cuts. Eighty percent of what they originally asked for.

And what did Democrats get? They averted a government shutdown — for
which Republicans would have received all the blame, anyway, once they
were exposed as the radical extremists they are.

I don’t think there’s any other way to slice it: This was a big win for the Tea Party. Tea Party freshmen put the pressure on John Boehner, and he caved in. Then John Boehner put the pressure on President Obama, and he caved in. At both levels, it ended up being a case of the tail wagging the dog.

But, for Democrats, here’s the worst part: This isn’t the end of the game. This is only the beginning. For Tea Partiers, the battle over the final six months of the 2011 budget was only the warmup to two much bigger battles. First, the vote to increase the debt ceiling, which must happen by May 16, and which Tea Partiers say they will never support without massive additional cuts. And then the war over the 2012 budget, where Republicans are already talking about getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid and providing even more tax breaks to the wealthiest of Americans.

And, unfortunately, after this week, Republicans know all too well: If they push hard enough, and hold out long enough, President Obama will fold.