Robert Kuttner

So far in his handling of the budget/debt issue, President Obama gets an A for splitting the Republicans and a D for offering far more substantive concessions than necessary. His bigger mistake was accepting the premise that what America needs is a ten-year budget deal, a premise that played to the Republican strategy of privatizing […]

Here is President Obama Friday morning remarking on the dismal June unemployment numbers and its bogus connection to the budget and debt-ceiling talks: The sooner we get this done, the sooner that the markets know that the debt limit ceiling will have been raised and that we have a serious plan to deal with our […]

The right has succeeded in dominating the framing of the entire budget issue, and tragically they have the perfect accomplice in Barack Obama. President Obama’s willingness to throw crown jewels like Social Security onto the austerity altar grows more flagrant by the day. The press–even some of the progressive press–is treating the main issue as […]

The stars are now in alignment for Democrats to capitulate to a draconian ten-year budget deal as the Republicans’ price for agreeing to raise the debt ceiling. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad’s fiscally conservative budget for 2012, set to be released today, will add pressure for a cave-in. Conrad is one of the most […]

Many people whom I respect have taken exception to my earlier post about Dominique Strauss-Kahn, as if I were either excusing Strauss-Kahn’s conduct or making light of the victim’s complaint. I meant exactly the opposite. What’s important to appreciate is that a victim who can be discredited as a witness and still have been raped, […]

The latest leaks from prosecutors suggesting that Strauss-Kahn’s accuser is less than reliable may well result in an early settlement of the case. Strauss-Kahn, who is now out of a job, may even resurrect his campaign for president of France (once he gets has passport back), as the wronged victim of the Anglo-Saxon rush to […]

Sometimes I wish my personal overriding cause were gay rights. Then I could get up in the morning and feel that my side was making real progress. It is thrilling to see how a movement for human decency has made immense gains. Executive leadership married to millions of acts of personal courage in a strong […]

President Obama has backed himself into a corner on the budget negotiations, where he’s allowed deficit hawks from both parties to define “progress” as a ten-year deal to cut the projected deficit by a huge amount. In fact, his own Bowles-Simpson Commission led the way. Obama has also lost the framing battle over whether it’s […]

Gentle Readers, Like others of my generation who grew up with print, I resisted the blogging habit for a while, but I find it addictive. I have long been a columnist, as well as a writer of longer articles and books, but having tried my hand at blogging for better than a year, I’m hooked. […]