Obama’s Budget Promises on Bush Tax Cuts, Drug Price Negotiation Ring Hollow

[Better Believe It]

Obama’s Budget Promises on Bush Tax Cuts, Drug Price Negotiation Ring Hollow
By: Jon Walker
April 14, 2011

In the speech, Obama again promised huge deficit reductions from both letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those making over $250,000, and fixing Medicare Part D by allowing Medicare to directly negotiate for lower drug prices. We are supposed to believe he will fight for these despite having laid down on both before.

At no time during the past two years did Obama use his large Democratic majorities in Congress to push through a bill ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Finally, when all the tax cuts were set to expire, instead of holding the line, he claimed he had no other option but to make a deal to extend them all. Obama has made no indications why the next fight about the Bush tax cuts won’t end in an identical broken promise.

Passing direct Medicare drug price negotiation was a huge campaign point for Democrats in 2006 and for Obama in 2008. Yet, during the health care reform fight, which would have been the prefect time to pass it, the provision disappeared.

In fact, Obama made a secret deal with the drug companies in which he promised to actively fight against allowing this core campaign promise from becoming law. The administration’s diligent efforts to kill drug re-importation, another promise broken by the secret deal, shows how open Obama was to violating his campaign promises to keep PhRMA happy.

Read the full article at:

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2011/04/14/obamas-budget-promises-on-bush-tax-cuts-drug-price-negotiation-ring-hollow/

The writer could also have pointed out that the Bush/Obama tax cuts for the rich expire in December 2012, AFTER the presidential election!

So Obama won't need to announce his final non-campaign decision on renewing the tax cuts until after that election! Gosh, I wonder what he'll do? BBI

[JoePhilly]

1. If he broke his promise to not raise taxes on the 95% of Americans

making under 250k, those who hate him would be SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER that it was proof he hated the middle class. That those middle class people needed those cuts, and that letting them expire was a non-event for the rich.

But since he protected the middle class, and did not raise their taxes, the folks who hate him no matter what simply FLIP the argument. The middle class did not need their tax cut, and the tax are getting a great deal.

Both of these lines of attack were leveraged prior to the actual decision. Basically, no matter what Obama did, it would be spun to claim he hates the middle class.

And now ... some of the same folks who predicted that Obama would announce major cuts to social security during the State of the Union, and then AGAIN, during his speech last week (neither of which were correct), NOW predict what Obama will do after the 2012 elections.