Politics is a science. No, politics is an art. Stop -- both are wrong. Politics is a game, played in Washington these past two years by politicians so concerned about the next election that they are willing to sacrifice the next generation. Every official in the capital knows that little can be done to bring down the nation's appalling deficit or tackle the problems of drugs, education and the environment without raising taxes. Still, paralysis prevails. "You go first," say the Democrats in Congress. "No," replies the Bush Administration, "you go first."
Last week someone finally took the plunge. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski uttered the dreaded words, higher taxes, as the solution to the deficit. "Adopt my plan to fix the deficit, or come up with a better one," he challenged. In addition to an increase in some excise levies and in income tax rates for the wealthiest Americans, Rostenkowski called for a one-year moratorium on the indexing of tax brackets to inflation (a Reagan- era reform that protects taxpayers from being hit with ever higher rates).
Most startling for a Democrat, he proposed cuts as well: not just a predictable 3% annual reduction in defense spending but also a one-year freeze on most Government programs, including a scheduled cost of living increase for Social Security recipients. Protecting Social Security from Republican budget cutters has been the Democrats' most effective campaign technique in recent years. By offering to give up the increase in return for G.O.P. cooperation on taxes, Rostenkowski was proposing mutual political disarmament.
On its face, the Rosty tax plan looks like something that would make George Bush's lips tremble and his teeth clench. But White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater refused all opportunities to deep-six it. "We don't want to pour too much cold water on a plan we may want to swim around in for a while," he said. The water was warm enough for Bush to pick up the phone and call his old friend -- the two served together on Ways and Means during the late 1960s -- and thank the chairman for his suggestion. He praised Rostenkowski for trying to "break the ice." Although he carefully repeated his pledge of no new taxes at Tuesday's press conference, Bush added, "I'm only one player."
Was this a deal in the making or just one more step in the annual dance between the Democrats and the White House? Almost every year Washington's divided Government hints at a grand compromise, then scrambles away as both sides point fingers and duck for cover. Last April the flirtation culminated in a bipartisan Rose Garden budget ceremony. The cooperation ended when Bush proposed a capital-gains-tax cut.