Fiscal Discipline

Dana Goldstein notes some of the issues that feature in Hillary Clinton's stump speech but don't really come up when her rivals are talking. One such issue is the big domestic policy dog that didn't bark -- or at least hasn't thus far in 2008:

"Fiscal responsibility." All the candidates talk about rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. But only Clinton uses this particular language. This is a comfortable talking point for her, since her own husband balanced the budget. It's something she touts at every appearance.

But note that there's an actual policy issue here. All the candidates are promising new spending. And all the candidates are promising the partial cancellation of the Bush tax cuts. Obviously, if you cancel those tax cuts you have room for new spending. But you have less room if you're also also promising balanced budgets. Right near the beginning of the campaign there was some Edwards-Clinton back-and-forth on this subject, with Edwards saying that new revenues would be dedicated first and foremost to his heath care plan, "fiscal discipline" be damned, and Clinton basically taking the opposite line. Eventually, that whole discussion faded from view but it's a potentially crucial distinction.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/01/fiscal-discipline/47639/