Friday Open Thread [4.12.13]

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds most Americans support “creating a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who are working in this country illegally — and one with a shorter timeline than that contemplated by Congress.”

“Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they favor giving citizenship to those who came here illegally and now hold jobs. Support jumped to 76% for a plan that required immigrants to pay fines, back taxes and pass a security check, among other measures, to gain citizenship. Bipartisan legislation now being written in the Senate could open a pathway to citizenship with similar requirements.”

In addition, 51% say illegal immigrants with jobs should gain citizenship after five years with an additional 18% backed immediate citizenship. The plan being discussed in Congress has a 10 year time frame.

Tomasky thinks Obama is bluffing….

I tend to agree with Kevin Drum on this one. Drum writes that Obama doesn’t really expect the GOP to budge on taxes and therefore doesn’t expect a deal at all. And that Republicans, rather than make a deal, would prefer to continue to have the deficit as an issue to bang Obama with…

…it’s mostly a charade. And it’s a good one! One of the very best, in fact. Cutting the deficit polls well, it lends itself nicely to demagoguery, and it’s an all-purpose excuse to oppose any spending proposals they don’t like. So why on earth would you cut a deal to take it off the table? That would be crazy. And if they’re forced to swallow a tax increase as well, that makes it even crazier. There’s literally no benefit at all in this for Republicans.

So they won’t do it. Obama’s real hope–since I assume he’s not an idiot and knows all this perfectly well–is that Republicans will indeed refuse to make a deal, and this will turn the public against them in the 2014 midterms. I suppose that’s possible, depending on how well he plays his hand. It’s certainly more possible than assuming that Republicans will voluntarily commit electoral suicide by agreeing to a deal.

This sounds right to me. The risk Obama runs here is that the GOP calls his bluff and does a 180 and says, “Okay, you want some tax increases? We’ll go to $300 billion.” Or some other smallish figure. Then he’ll have to play ball.

But I think the risk of that is small. Can you picture the Republicans giving ground on taxes before 2014? I can’t. They’ll keep demagoguing the deficit and run on that. The risk for them is that the deficit really goes down and no one gives a crap about it anymore. It’s expected to be $845 billion in October. It could be lower. And then what if it’s just $500 billion the following October, the month before the election? It’ll fade as an issue. Obama will be able to run around on the campaign trail saying he reduced the deficit nearly $1 trillion in two years in such an event. Not implausible.

All that said, people like Bernie Sanders should keep up the pressure in the meantime. But I see no incentive for the GOP to come to terms, and I think the Potus knows it.

Progressive action does work, even if it takes some time. Take the example ‘Proglegs’ at Daily Kos has for us:

Ever since hate radio golden boy Rush Limbaugh’s disgusting attacks on Sandra Fluke a year ago, karma has been a real bitch for Clear Channel–who stood by their man.

Clear Channel’s radio revenue has been decimated by the StopRush movement through the efforts of activist groups like Flush Rush Facebook. These activists have worked every day to monitor Limbaugh’s broadcasts across the nation, enter ad information in The StopRush sponsor database, and contact advertisers to convince them to withdraw ads from the offensive program.

Last month, Clear Channel reported losses of $424 million for 2012. The media company has been firing employees throughout the past year in an effort to stop the hemorrhaging, to no avail. And Chairman of the Board Mark Mays announced his impending resignation. […]

Decent folks who believe in tolerance and equality are no longer powerless against Limbaugh’s efforts to spread intolerance on the radio. StopRush is making a major impact–and with your help we can do even more. Just a few emails, tweets, or Facebook messages a week to Limbaugh’s advertisers can go a long way toward making hatred less profitable. It is our collective voice that makes us strong.
.