A Straightforward Progressive Strategy On the Stimulus Fight

Right now, progressives need to push as hard as we can for the best economic stimulus package possible. There's simply no downside to it for progressives, and further, progressive pressure will not hurt the Obama administration; it will instead strengthen the administration's hand against a retreating yet obstructive conservative movement.

But, then, what should the progressive strategy be on the upcoming economic stimulus? What should be our lines in the sand? Let me suggest we break things down in a good, bad and ugly kind of way, as I did on CNN on Friday:

So first and foremost, progressives should be broadly supportive of public spending.

We can get into a debate about what kind of spending is better, but as a concept, the more public spending we can get out of this bill, the better. And I say that not just because during a recession its moral to fund say, health care instead of business tax cuts, but also because its more economically effective. As Republican economist Mark Zandi admits [1], public spending delivers a better boost to the economy than tax cuts.

To that end, progressives should see tax cuts at this moment as conceptually bad.

That's not to say that some tax cut proposals aren't better than others—certainly cutting taxes for the middle class is better than cutting taxes for banks [2]. But let's be clear: If we continue to let the debate be framed and confined by tax cuts, it will ultimately mean a weaker stimulus package.

Finally, I think conceptually progressives should see any effort to link deficit reduction exclusively to entitlement "reform" (the euphemism for slashing Social Security and Medicare) as odiously awful.

Obama has made noises recently suggesting we should link deficit reduction to entitlement "reform." And though he has not yet explained [3] how he defines "reform," conservatives—as evidenced by the hard-core media campaign by the right that started this weekend [4]—are obviously trying to trap him into a debate over slashing the two most popular government programs in American history. Progressives have to lay down markers right now so as to take those kinds of ideas completely off the table.

I think this is a pretty straightforward strategy for the progressive movement moving forward into these next critical weeks. The harder we push, the better the outcome—and the more political capital President Obama will have moving into his first 100 days.