Tell me, Mr. President, about how you're going to end the Bush tax cuts

[Enrique]

I loved hearing it during the 2008 campaign. I loved hearing it again during the 2010 campaign. I'm going to love hearing it again now, which is the 2012 campaign.

[vaberella]

1. Be clear. The Bush tax cuts is for the rich and the poor.

So do you want it repealed, or the part in the legislation for the rich? We all know that you can't separate the cuts for the rich and the poor when talking about the Bush tax cuts since it was all part of the package. Legislation was put to allow the rich tax cuts expire---and both times it failed because of Congress. Yet, you are still holding Obama responsible. There's just way too much misplaced anger and frustration.

Anyway Obama is going to do it the only way he knows and has been doing. Appealing to congress.If congress doesn't agree..he can't do shit. You know this as well as everyone else.

[Enrique]

2. he could have vetoed any tax cut extension

and he can do veto any such extension in 2012. He won't and he has no intention of doing so.

[jenmito]

4. How can he veto tax cut extensions for the rich while keeping them for everyone else? n/t

[JoePhilly]

27. Ding ding ding!!

So many folks simply don't get it.

Obama promised 95% of Americans, those under 250k that he would not raise their taxes. If he let the tax cuts expire, sure, the rich lose theirs, but Obama breaks one of those promises that you can not break and survive ... "read my lips ...."

If Obama let the tax cuts for the middle class expire, the media would have crucified him.

Once he is reelected, he can let the tax cuts expire and it won't hurt him in anyway. And then, he can demand that the House and Senate reinstate the middle class tax cuts while also vowing to veto any bill with tax cuts for the rich.

Honestly, the middle class only cares about their tax cut. They do not really care about tax cuts for the rich, or the deficit (unless the media tells them to, something they NEVER do when we have a GOP President).

[jenmito]

29. Thank you...

I'm not surprised that I got no response from the poster or his defenders. I guess they don't HAVE any response so they just ignore it and continue bashing Obama.

[JoePhilly]

38. Yup ... apparently, Obama is a dictator who could have passed only middle class cuts.

[jenmito]

39. It's pretty pathetic that some at DU don't know how govt. works. n/t

[Hello_Kitty]

40. Apparently the way it works is all credit for anything good goes to the President.

And everything bad is totes the fault of Congress.

Really great system you guys got for yourselves there.

[jenmito]

44. Since the poster I asked didn't answer my question, why don't YOU?:

How can he veto tax cut extensions for the rich while keeping them for everyone else?

[Hello_Kitty]

12. Except when something good comes out of Congress

In which case it's totes Pres. Obama's accomplishment. Like DADT reform.

Something good happens - all credit goes to the President

Something bad - blame Congress

[BklnDem75]

14. Except the opposite actually happens

Everything bad is Obama's fault while he deserves zero credit for anything good.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ClassWarrior]

28. Selectively reading, I see? I K&R every thread I see that lauds an accomplishment...

...of his. I believe in positive reinforcement. Thus I give him copious credit whenever his actions promote progressive American values. And I don't blame him for anything that isn't "his fault," to use your wording. We're the same in that regard.

But if he fails us, I WILL NOT HESITATE ONE SECOND TO CRITICIZE HIM. That's the difference between you and me. And the ONLY difference as far as this subject goes.

NGU.

[vaberella]

34. What? Everyone knows that DADT reform was pushed by Obama within Congress.

If this Congress was running on it's own accord why didn't they do it sooner?! Huh? Yeah, so in affect it was Obama and when the bill came up several times before it was knocked out or voted down. Your statement is just lazy.

[Hello_Kitty]

36. Yep, DADT repeal was totes Pres. Obama's accomplishment. Failure of the DREAM Act?

Totes not his fault. Totes the fault of Congress.

Love how that works.

[ProSense]

3. Here's how it could play out

It's in the President's budget, meaning Congress will debate it. If Democrats are smart, they'd be very vocal in pushing for an end to the cuts and increasing taxes on the rich. The onus is on this Congress, which is in place through the date the cuts expire.

The tax cuts expire two months after the 2012 election. The President at that point could easily allow them to expire.

[JuniperLea]

9. That's what this is all about...

Getting all the ugly on the table.

Now is the time to call your local reps... this is how it works.

[Hello_Kitty]

16. Uh, my Rep is Ben Quayle

Remember that little thing we had back in November? You know, the election? The one where the Dems got their asses handed to them in no small part due to the incompetence of this administration at selling its "accomplishments"?* Yeah, Ben Quayle really gives a flying fuck about poor people.














*This is where the dirty hippies/Professional Left/Jane Hamsher/some other convenient scapegoat gets blamed for the election results.

[ProSense]

30. You mean the election

that was supposed to teach the Democrats a lesson? I don't think any progressives voted for the Republicans, do you?

"Uh, my Rep is Ben Quayle"

Sorry to hear that.

[Hello_Kitty]

35. No, I don't think any progressives voted GOP either.

It looks like a lot of 2008 Obama voters sat out the 2010 election because the leader of the Democratic Party failed to inspire them to get out and vote.

[Exilednight]

46. +1,000

[former9thward]

11. They will also expire for everyone else.

Obama will not be willing to allow that to happen.

[ProSense]

32. Isn't that what most people against the tax cuts were advocating?

The President can allow them to expire and, if he chooses to, take up the middle-class only tax cuts in the next Congress. The economy will be in a different place at the end of 2012.

[former9thward]

33. He can do that but I don't think he will.

I think the pressure will be on him before the 2012 to extend them for the middle class and therefore everyone before the election. The economy may be better, I hope so. But that much better? I'm not so sure.

[NorthCarolina]

5. Talk is cheap, campaign rhetoric...worthless. nt

[FreakinDJ]

6. WOW - Did this thread get UnRecommended

Shame folks can't realize the Dem base is going to revolt against this crap

[jenmito]

7. I hadn't unrec'ed it until I read your post...

I didn't think about it. I just posted a question to the poster which he hasn't answered yet.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bigwillq]

45. Do you really care

that a thread on a message board got a rec or unrec?

[BklnDem75]

8. I tend to call them campaign goals than promises...

Since nothing is guaranteed. Calling something a promise tends to ignore the battles and focuses solely on the results. I appreciate the fact that Obama tries to meet his goals. I suppose it's easier to whine if you don't get the desired result, but I won't turn a blind eye to the stonewalling.

[Hello_Kitty]

13. Yeah, he battled for the public option really hard

Oh wait...

[BklnDem75]

17. Actually he did

Of course, you're only looking for results, so that doesn't matter.

[displacedvermoter]

19. "Results" are kind of what count, right?

Any thoughts that maybe more "results" might have meant less loss last November? You know, back when you all were posting daily lists of "accomplishments" that I guess should have included more "results" instead of lots of "proposeds" and "recommendeds".

What are you looking for if not results?

[Hello_Kitty]

20. Oh no. Speeches are what counts. Pretty, eloquent speeches.

"Fierce advocacy" too.

[BklnDem75]

22. Apparently not...

Since you simply discounted those accomplishments.

[Exilednight]

47. You have to actually accomplish something before someone discounts it.

[BklnDem75]

48. lolworthy, but ok

Thankfully you're in the minority

[hfojvt]

18. you may not remember December

Obama did not even bother to try.

That's why it's called the December surrender.

[Hello_Kitty]

21. And now we have the February Capitulation.

Tough Choices^TM were made.

[hfojvt]

23. except that tough choices were made in November too

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/138

[Hello_Kitty]

24. Right. And we weren't even worried about "the deficit" then.

But now we are Born Again Deficit Hawks^TM and the poor with have more flesh extracted from them to pay for rich people's tax breaks and corporate welfare.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hfojvt]

42. oooh, another pungent comment

from somebody unwilling to listen to people who disagree with him/her

[JoePhilly]

26. "Get re-elected, and then let them expire because I'm not able to run in 2016"

He was not about to let the middle class tax cuts expire because he promised to never raise taxes on those making under 250k.

That is a promise to 95% of Americans, Democrats, Independents, Republicans.

If he broke that promise, the press would have crucified him and spent the next 2 years telling the middle class that they should hate Obama for raising their taxes.

The 95% did not care about any tax break but the one that they get. They did not, and do not care about the breaks the rich get.

And so, when the Bush tax cuts are ready to expire AFTER the 2012 elections ... there is NOTHING to stop Obama from letting them expire, even if that also means that the middle class loses their tax break. Bottom line: the GOP will have lost its political leverage.

[Dawgs]

31. Right. Because not raising taxes on the middle class worked so well in November.

How long have you been following politics?

[JoePhilly]

41. To answer your question ... clearly, longer than you have.

In case you missed it (and apparently, you did) ... Obama was not on the ballot in November, the House and Senate Democrats were.

During the fall, the House and Senate Democrats SHOULD have run on a bill that extended the tax breaks for the middle class, but not those for the rich.

They CHICKENED OUT, and got their asses kicked as a result.

Are you too young to recall "read my lips?" You seem to be. And you also seem to not know what the media will do if you break a promise of that magnitude.

But let's play ... after Obama let's the middle class tax cuts expire ... what do YOU think happens next?? I mean you are clearly a political scholar, right? What does the media do? What does the new House GOP majority do? What would the weakened Dem Senate do?

Come on ... make it WORK. Explain how Obama let's those middle class tax cuts expire and still keep the GOP from taking the White House and senate in 2012?

Good luck.

[hfojvt]

43. the GOP never had any leverage

except that which Obama handed to them.

If taxes had gone up, it would have been on their heads. There was no way they were gonna let that happen.