The Boston Globe published an article today entitled "Budget Battle Ramps Up" about the current disputes between House and Senate Democrats and Republicans over the current budget proposal. The GOP has been a harsh and increasingly vociferous opponent to Obama's proposed 3.6 trillion dollar budget plan. In the Globe article, Republican House Representative is quoted as saying, "The president's budget is little more than a thinly veiled attempt by Washington to spend its way into prosperity, tax its way into tax relief, and borrow its way into debt reduction." The quote seems to capture the gist of the Republican's frame for Obama's budget fairly well: that it is a hasty, illogical plan to overspend and dig the country further into debt. The desired effect of all this appears to be to draw attention away from Obama's plan and towards the Republican's budget alternative.
Overall, though, the Globe's article seems rather generous in its positive coverage of the Democrats and Obama's budget. The article ends with a quote from an ad placed by the Rebuild and Renew America Now coalition, a pro-Obama advocacy group, states: "For the first time in years, we have an honest, fair and transparent blueprint to extend opportunity and security for families in all walks of life... making long-term investments in our nation's future while gradually reducing the deficit." The ad echos Obama's mantra of transparency and employs the Democrat's favored frame for the budget - an "investment in the future." In addition to this, the article also contains a link to another article about the Democrats sniping the GOP and their alternative budget proposal.
An arguably fair criticism was raised in the comments section of the online version of the article, that the article links to a story about the Democrats criticism of the Republican's alternative budget, but not to an article about the Republican's budget itself. So, I found this article written by Representative Ryan, the top-ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, and published in the Wall Street Journal.
On the topic of frames, I found something particularly interesting in Ryan's piece. In one of his opening paragraphs, he writes of Obama's budget, "If this agenda comes to pass, it will mark this period in history as the moment America turned European." In addition to the bloated-budget or oceans-of-red-ink frame, it seems that a secondary frame is now being employed: that Obama's proposed budget is inherently un-American and antithetical to American values. The GOP's budget is supposed to be the plan that continues the American tradition of "rewarding individual achievement," "advancing and protecting natural rights," and "embracing freedom."
These are certainly pleasant thoughts, however, Representative Ryan seems to fail to draw a connection between "advancing and protecting natural rights" or "embracing freedom" by freezing all discretionary spending - with the exception of military spending - for the next five years. I also don't necessarily think that "opening exploration on our nation's oil and gas fields" is a freedom I want to embrace or a right worth advancing.
The Boston Globe may be susceptible to claims of liberal bias, and I myself have shown some of my own. However, it seems both sides - right or left, Democrat or Republican - have ample opportunity to propagandize when necessary.
