Have Dems Knuckled Under To GOP Again ?

President Obama has announced that a "compromise" agreement has been reached between the White House and the leaders of both parties in the U.S. Congress to raise the debt ceiling. He said, "There are still some very important votes to be taken by members of Congress, but I want to announce that the leaders of both parties in both chambers have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default."

But while it may be an agreement, it is certainly no compromise. A compromise requires both sides to give some and get some of what they wanted. This agreement does not do that. The Republicans get most of what they were demanding, while the Democrats get nothing they wanted. It really looks like the Democrats have once again demonstrated their total lack of a backbone and completely caved in to the Republicans. Here is what the agreement is believed to include:

* There will be about one trillion dollars in immediate cuts. The Republicans wanted this because they care nothing about hurting Americans. The fact is that a cut like this will cause the economy to contract, inhibit job creation, and extend the recession for Main Street for a much longer time.

* There will be a panel selected to find another $1.4 to $2 trillion dollars in cuts over the next ten years (further contracting the economy and extending the recession). Among the cuts the panel is to consider are cuts to Social Security and Medicare. If this panel cannot agree on cuts Congress would approve (which is very likely), then automatic across-the-board cuts will kick in -- and this will include cuts in Medicare (which the Republicans want and the Democrats promised would not happen).

* There will be a vote in both houses of Congress over approving and submitting to the states a Balanced Budget Amendment. It is extremely doubtful that this ridiculous and unworkable idea can get the two-thirds approval it needs, but it will allow the Republicans to pose as being fiscally-responsible in the next election (when in actuality the Republicans are the biggest spenders of all -- remember, it was Republicans who got us in this mess in the first place).

* The debt ceiling will be raised in two steps. The second step is automatic if the president wants it (even though Congress can vote to stop it with large majorities). This will allow the Republicans to vote against the second raise of the debt ceiling, and after it happens blame the president and Democrats for doing it. (And maybe they'll deserve that blame for knuckling under and signing on to this outrageous agreement.)

* The agreement contains no provision for raising new revenue by raising taxes on the rich (which is approved of by at least 64% of the population). It also leaves in place the huge tax subsidies for the giant oil companies and other corporations. The corporations and the rich get off scott-free while the rest of America suffers deep cuts, no job creation, and a continuing recession. Where is the "shared sacrifice"?

There will be those who say the Democrats had to give in and agree to the Republican demands to keep the nation from going into default and seriously damaging the U.S. economy (and the world economy). That's just not true. The Democrats not only had the moral high ground, but were in a position of strength. They just didn't have the political courage to exploit it.

The biggest money supporters of the Republican Party is Wall Street and the giant corporations -- and these entities made it clear they did not want the government to go into default. They wanted the debt ceiling raised and they were making that clear to the congressional Republicans.

The Republicans could not refuse to raise the debt ceiling (throwing the nation into default) and continue to receive the big money from Wall Street. They would have had to give in (probably at the last minute) and raise the debt ceiling -- even if they got nothing for doing it.

And in the very unlikely event that the Republicans were willing to forgo the Wall Street money and throw the nation into default, the president did have another option -- the so-called 14th Amendment option. This amendment makes it unconstitutional for the U.S. government to fail to pay its bills.

The president could have unilaterally raised the debt ceiling and continued to raise the money needed for the government to pay its bills. While this would have insured a Supreme Court case (which could have gone either way considering the make-up of the court), it would also have painted the president as a man of strength and courage (something voters like).

But the Democrats, at least their leadership, didn't have the courage to roll the dice and play political hardball. Instead, they caved-in and gave the Republicans nearly everything they wanted (just like they did on health care reform and Wall Street reform and Guantanamo Bay and the two foreign wars).

There is still a small chance that the progressives in Congress, in combination with the congressional teabaggers (who oppose anything the president agrees to), can stop this very bad agreement. But that is unlikely. It would require a backbone -- something they haven't yet shown they have.