E.J. Dionne:Deficit hawks and the games they play

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/16/AR2011021605464.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

For 30 years, conservative ideologues have played moderate deficit hawks for suckers.

You'd think this might endow those middle-of-the-road deficit-busters with a touch of humility. Fat chance. They stick with their self-righteous moralism, pretending to be bipartisan and beyond ideology. In fact, they make the problem they want to solve worse by continuing to empower the tax-cuts-in-every-season conservatives.

It's thus satisfying to see President Obama ignore the willfully naive who are wailing over deficits. He knows that new revenue will have to play a big role in deficit reduction. He also knows that House Republicans are pretending we can cut our way out of this mess and would demagogue any general tax increases.

(snip)
I hope Obama has the spine to keep calling the bluff of the deficit hawks until they get serious about changing the politics of deficit reduction. We can't afford another 30 years of fiscal evasion.