Let me triangulate briefly between the people who view the budget deal as a success and those who regard it as a disappointment. Without grassroots pressure to make real spending cuts, the Republicans will surely cave. Without some sense of what the rest of the country thinks outside the base, the Republicans will surely fail even if they don’t cave. It seems to me that it is best to take this deal and keep up the pressure.
As I argued in my column this morning, what matters is whether this budget deal is the final word or a first step.
