There comes a point in every politician’s life of doublespeak when he has to tell the truth.
John Kerry’s
came this year in Davos. Asked how to achieve the always-receding goals of climate control, he said, “Money, money, money, money, money, money, money.”
The Kerry money quote rang a bell. It wasn’t “The Color of Money.” Mr. Kerry was channeling the unforgettable “money, money, money” chorus from the O’Jays’ 1973 funk song “For the Love of Money.” This column’s intention isn’t to revisit the history of soul but to pull you in to reading about the Biden-McCarthy debt-ceiling fight, which is about real money. To survive that, I recommend you first watch the YouTube video of the O’Jays’ performance. Get happy.
We almost miss John Kerry. Unlike
his Senate colleague who somehow won a presidential election, Mr. Kerry is never at a loss for words. President Biden doesn’t seem to want to talk about anything these days. He says he’ll have a “conversation” with Republican House Speaker
Kevin McCarthy
but insists—through his press secretary—that raising the debt ceiling automatically is “not negotiable.”
A Democratic political aide told the Washington Post that one Republican debt-ceiling plan with partial spending, known as prioritization, “is just target practice for us.” Perhaps, but I’m not sure Republicans have to be the clay pigeons in this fight.
The endgame is not in question. The debt ceiling will be raised. What happens between now and the June deadline is a messaging competition. Who will the public blame if the U.S. goes to the brink of default?
Democrats assume spending brinkmanship tags Republicans as willing to push grandma off the cliff—and only after the GOP has conducted several circular firing squads. Kevin McCarthy’s GOP nemesis, Rep.
Andy Biggs,
has already pushed for refusing to raise the ceiling. Why should this time be different?
Because it is different. Federal spending for most people normally runs as background noise. But the Democrats’ assumption that voters don’t notice spending may be wrong and for a familiar reason: the pandemic.
The pandemic put the federal government inside everyone’s head, and what the government did was spend, spend,…
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