Tea Party Sees No Triumph In Compromise

At report at Wall Street Journal:

The agreement to cut deficits and raise the debt ceiling hammered together in Washington caps a remarkable two-year surge by the tea-party movement—forcing Republicans and Democrats alike to refocus on spending and, at the same time, proving the political power of the tea party.

Yet, a chorus of tea-party activists and leaders across the country denounced the agreement on Monday, saying it included little in the way of the change they actually sought.

"People are saying, 'These tea partiers, aren't they wonderful, they are changing the conversation,'" said Ellen Gilmore, a leader of the LaGrange Tea Party Patriots in Georgia. "Well, we got absolutely squat—except for the conversation."

However, the deal struck Sunday falls far short of many tea-party groups' stated goals of no increase in the debt ceiling, vastly larger budget cuts and passage of a balanced-budget amendment. The central question facing the loose-knit tea-party movement today, two years after it sprang into existence, is whether its organization and leadership can grow to match its ideological force.

Actually, the tea party is stronger than I thought it'd be after the election. Members of Congress have really taken the limited government message to heart, and that goes all the way to Speaker John Boehner. I think activists should be patting themselves on the back and mobilizing to get more grassroots representatives elected in 2012. And the GOP presidential field sure is taking the tea partiers seriously. See Los Angeles Times, "Almost all GOP presidential hopefuls oppose debt deal."