Review of the Week: 12th-18th February

• Obama delivers $3.8tn budget proposal
• Congress compromises on payroll tax holiday
• Romney falters as Santorum surges
• Comment: How resistant could Santorum be to negative ads?
• Articles of the week

Obama unveils $3.8 trillion budget whilst Congress compromises on tax cut

President Obama delivered a $3.8 trillion budget for the consideration of Congress for 2013 (the financial year starting on October 1^st this year). The plan includes increased taxes on the very rich, the implementation of the so-called Buffett rule (which would force millionaires to pay at least 30% in tax) and increased spending on education and infrastructure, in a budget which is distinctly against widespread and deep government cuts.

Republicans in Congress reacted badly to the budget, describing it as “debt on arrival”. It is highly unlikely to ever be passed, particularly not in a Washington which failed to pass a full budget last year. This has been widely seen as a political statement by Obama in the run up to the election this November.

However, despite the predictable squabbling over the budget, there was a rare example this week of a form of cross party co-operation on Capitol Hill. Both parties came to an agreement on the maintenance of the pay-roll tax holiday after Republicans dropped their demand that the money lost be paid for somewhere else in the budget. The move is naturally popular and it was felt that had the Republicans maintained their stance they would have lost ground in this election year.

Romney’s Run to the Right Backfires

Mitt Romney’s description of himself last week as “severely conservative” was not just met with derision from far right Republicans but appears to have also scared off independent moderates from Mr Romney’s cause.

Having weathered the initial storm caused by Rick Santorum’s wins last week, Mr Romney has lost ground this week and is now facing the prospect of a humiliating defeat in the upcoming contest in Michigan, the state he grew up in, where his father was Governor. Romney has support there and has been endorsed by the current governor, but he is struggling, not least because of his opposition to the Detroit bailout after the crisis of 2008.

It seems to be becoming increasingly clear that conservatives just don’t want to vote for Mr Romney at this point, and Mr Santorum is surging with Newt Gingrich trailing once again. Santorum now leads Romney in national polls, though narrowly, and he also has a lead in the crucial state of Ohio.

Mr Romney’s base is the non-TEA Party wing of the party, and they have their limits. Certainly, his appeal toward moderates is his main appeal for national voters in a contest against President Obama. This apparent pandering to the right will lose him votes in November, should he be the nominee.

Redcoat Comment: Santorum’s problem is money, but how hard is he to campaign negatively against?

Rick Santorum has had an extraordinary fortnight. Hell, he’s had an extraordinary 2012. Having been little more than a national joke six weeks ago, he is now in with a very real shout of winning the Republican nomination.

He is, however, up against the formidable Mitt Romney machine. Romney has more money and better electoral prospects against President Obama, so Rick Santorum, despite his new lead in the polls still has a very real fight on his hands. Now, Mr Santorum is facing the most prolific weapon in the Romney-armoury: negative campaigning.

Intensely negative adverts have become almost synonymous with Mitt Romney’s campaign and it has begun to damage him, but one need only look at how he regained the lead from Newt Gingrich in December to realise the depressing truth that these campaigns work.

However, it is easy to run a successful negative campaign against Mr Gingrich, whose bizarre marital history and links to failed mortgage giants were not so much open goals as vast chasms of embarrassment. With Mr Santorum, it’s somewhat harder.

Googling Santorum will reveal the fact that he has his own embarrassable element, but not even that will trouble him. Mr Santorum, in my opinion, believes some truly hateful things and his rhetoric seems to represent the greatest threat to freedom of conscience in the US imaginable, but the trouble is that he is quite dreadfully sincere and straight up.

You genuinely get the sense that Rick Santorum honestly believes that he is the necessary and right candidate for his country. He appears to be fervent in his beliefs and is unwilling to compromise. Indeed, it is a shame that this young, somewhat charismatic, seemingly sincere and clear man should be spouting such dreadful opinions, but, though you may not like what he says, and I really don’t his integrity is difficult to challenge.

The increasingly doubtful Romney will continue to try negative campaigning, but he may find that Mr Santorum is a Teflon-candidate: nothing sticks.

Articles of the Week

CNN’s Peter Hamby on Romney’s struggle to assert his “conservative” credentials

The Daily Beast’s Peter Beinart suggests that Romney is not finding favour with TEA Party Republicans who are more interested in fighting a culture war than fixing the economy