Ok..lets face it ..Most of us were expecting Obama to cave

[INdemo]

on the tax issue Right?... so why are there Democrats in Congress so surprised?
With healthcare,the banking reform,and every other major bill that has passed Obama has given in to Repuke demands..Oh well we got unemployment benifits extended right?
I actually voted for this guy thinking he was a Democrat..

[TwilightGardener]

1. I'm always baffled by this framing: that Obama gave in to Republicans

on HCR, financial reform, stimulus, etc. They didn't want ANY of that. At all. And are working to weaken everything Obama did. Cognitive dissonance here.

[zipplewrath]

2. They didn't want all those tax cuts?

You remember, the ones added to the stimulus that he was warned weren't all that effective? So they didn't want mandates, even though they campaigned upon them, as well as cadillac taxes? You do know that the basic structure was lain out by the GOP 15 years ago right? Obama told you so himself. They didn't want him to triple the number of troops in Afghanistan? They didn't want him to execute the SOFA in Iraq? They actually wanted him to close Gitmo? They actually wanted him to prosecute the torturers?

Wow. I guess I missed all that.

[Egnever]

3. The republican party of 15 years ago

Was not nearly the pack of rabid dogs we have today.

[TwilightGardener]

7. I've read your post three times, and I'm still not clear on what you're saying.

Obama's done some things that Republicans agree with--is that the gist of it? And he's also done some things they voted against and are trying to dismantle. And...?

[zipplewrath]

10. You suggested he doesn't cave in

He does, regularly. He does so as a style of governance. He doesn't commit to any signature issue, he merely constantly tries to find out what he GOP will let him do.

[TwilightGardener]

12. What he managed, through Congress, to pass in the last two years

were compromised versions of what he'd set out to do-- but I don't call that a cave-in. Caving would be failing to pass something on his agenda at all. The tax cut deal is a cave--he promised to end tax cuts for the wealthy, and did not. What he did manage to achieve thus far, however, are actual accomplishments.

[zipplewrath]

13. And I listed the other things he caved on

Gitmo, mandates, cadillac taxes....

[Octafish]

4. After two years, a pattern has begun to emerge.

Talk left, head right.

[bobbolink]

15. I think that pattern was established with cabinet picks *before* he was even inaugurated.

S.Q.U.A.N.D.E.R.E.D.

:cry:

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

5. Remember what the wise man said...

"The only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door. That's the only difference."
-RN

[bbgrunt]

6. an apt characterization!

[AndyTiedye]

11. That and the Other Party Wants to Turn Us Into Jesusland

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. I wasn't expecting him to cave.

I saw him as a proud, intelligent black man who was going to revive the spirit of all those people who sacrificed to get him where he is today.

Now, hell. I'm guessing that by the time his term is up, they'll be drawing him in political cartoons as the president with big dumbo ears.

Let's hope he learns to fly before he hits the ground.

[Scurrilous]

9. He's a bad man.

;( :grr: :scared::cry:

[TexasObserver]

14. It's not just that he capitulates, but he gets little in trade for doing so.

If he's going to cave in, he has to be smarter and tougher.

He strikes me as the guy who looks at the sticker price on the car and says "so is this what I pay?"

Yeah, that's what you pay when you don't haggle properly.

He's simply not good at horse trading.