Deficit deception

This post at Firedoglake pretty much expresses my frustration with the Democratic arguments about the deficit. Citing a statement from Rachel Maddow's Steve Benen, David Dayen titled his post "Democrats Bragging on Their Deficit-Cutting Skills Helps Nobody, Hurts America."

Benen defends Democrats by saying Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have been the biggest deficit cutters. Not only does this ignore the fact that Republican are playing a cynical game of bait and switch, it is also bad economics and arguing that his what the public expects defeats the purpose of politics. As Dayen writes:

The public has come to believe the wrong thing, and if Democratic partisans refuse to straighten them out on it, there’s no way to change that mentality. Partisans who use the deficit data to bolster the case for their party consign the country to continuing austerity and will make it impossible for government to carry out the functions of progressive policy, or to stimulate the economy when the need arises. It’s an extremely dangerous game.