Falling From Grace: Obama's Tax Cut Compromise

So, I've been generally disappointed with the President for some time now.  He gave us health care that largely supported the status quo, and while 30 million americans will now be forced into the health care system, and premiums may decrease for 100 million more, the benefits are largely in favor of the major health care organizations, not to mention without a public option there is still very little competition to ensure that prices don't continue to increase astronomically.

Then he back tracked on Repeal of DADT.  Then he dropped the close of GitMo.  Then he conveniently kicked the can on Afghanistan.  Now we've got a finance regulation bill, that does little to curb the already rampent abuse.

In 2002 George Bush had all but eliminated the major regulations in place to protect our economy from this kind of recession, passed sweeping $3 trillion tax cuts aimed predominantly at the wealthy, and sent us to war.  in 2008 we hired a guy to fix all that... you'd think by now he would have gotten to one of those three.  (oops, sorry I suppoose he did "end" the war in iraq...unless you count those 50K troops still there...details).

So we've gotten a lackluster president at best, and suddenly he's pissed at us.  Sorry buddy, that's not how this works.  You want our support, you do what you were elected to do, and pandering to the Republicans wasn't just low on our list, it really wasn't there.  So you'll have to excuse us if we are kinda pissy right now.

Anyway, lets stick to this Tax Compromise and lets explore whata just happened.  Unemployment benefits are about to lapse.  Tax cuts for everyone are about to lapse.  The only one of those two that was an issue was Tax Cuts.  You know how I know that unemployment was not an issue?  simple.  If Republicans vote against extending unemployment, who loses?  DUH!  Republicans would face enormous backlash.  So, really, they were going to cave on that issue, they were just playing games.

So what happened, they took a position everyone knew they were going to back down from, and Obama caved... Yeah, perfect opportunity to hang the republicans out to dry and Obama caved... This is politics 101, I'm not saying that it's right to extend unemployment, I'm saying it was going to happen, period.

So let's explore what the Republicans got for being dicks.  They got the tax cuts for their wealthy supporters AND they got to vote yes on unemployment which will help them politically.  What did Democrats get?  they lost on tax cuts when they were right, and they got unemployment benefits they were going to get anyway.

How is this a win for both sides?  The democrats should have eaten the Republicans' god damn lunch!  This should have been a HUGE win for the democrats!  They should have gotten their unemployment AND stuck it to the Republicans on tax cuts.  Here's the message "Republicans hold your employment benefits hostage so they can kick back millions to wealthy donors."  WHO THE WAS GOING TO WIN THAT ARGUMENT?!

So no Mr. President, I'm not pissed that you are compromising, I'm pissed that you are giving them your f***ing lunch money on issues you not only can win, but on issues where you are guaranteed a win!

On a side-note the NONPARTISAN Congressional Budget Office predicts that extending the tax cuts would increase the deficit by $700 Billion over 10 years and $4 Trillion over it's lifetime (if fully extended).

Oh and if you are currious about the economic impact of the Bush Tax cuts, only about 7% of those tax cuts came back as increased revenue to the federal government, the other 93% was taken entirely as debt so we could give handouts to the wealthiest Americans. (See "Why We're Liberals" by Eric Alterman)

Just so we are all aware of who won, here were some of the people who opposed this compromise that have come out in just the past 24hrs.

On The Left:
The AFL-CIO
Former DNC Chair Howard Dean
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.)
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) - Conservative Democrat
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.)
Steve Hildebrand, Deputy National Director of Obama's Presidential Campaign

On The Right:
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio)

So, you're compromises is pretty much universally disgusted by the left, including at least one high profile conservative Democrat, and at least one Republican.  So no Mr President, we will not shut up while you seed control of the government, policy, and our economy future to a party that was voted out of office 2 years ago, and wasn't even re-elected (in the senate) a month ago despite your miserable failure as a President.  It baffles me the extent to which this President seems to completely disregard his responsibility to this country by continuously handing over decision-making power to the people who f***ed it up in the first place!

Here is a depiction that seems to represent my anger (and the anger of a lot of other people: see comments on Huff Po)

Step-up Mr. President or step-aside and let us elect a real liberal in 2012.  As it is I wont be voting for this president in the primaries, and I'm certainly considering doing something I've never done before: Campaigning for the other guy just to prove my point.

Common Sense

UPDATE (12/08/10):
The following people have now also come out against the compromise.

On the Left:
Rep. Barnie Frank (D-MA)
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY)
Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) - Also suggesting he may not support the president's re-election
Keith Olberman (Anchor - MSNBC)
Arianna Huffington (Founder of Huffington Post) - Not that I like her

On the Right:
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) - Has also promised to Fillibuster if it comes up for a vote
Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-MN) - Though she clearly doesn't understand what the compromise actually does (who's shocked by that?)

(Side-Note: I would like to take this opportunity to say, I never thought I would see the day when I would agree with Michelle Bachman on ANYTHING!  I am truly disgusted by this turn of events and it should suggest just how far the President has fallen.)

In addition, VP Joe Biden was hounded by House Democrats at a meeting today held in the hopes of rallying support.  The following reps expressed serious concerns, and will likely oppose the deal:
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA)
Rep. Chris Wan Hollen (D-MD)

So far the only people to openly support the deal are a handful of people who have kept their mouths shut because they know it is a bad deal, Speaker Pelosi, The President, His Staff (who are really the only people making the case for the compromise), and Sen. Mitch McConnell.  Not exactly the company the president should be seeking right now.

If you ask me, whatever political capital he had left, is now gone.  Whatever good faith he maintained with the base that he has spent 2 years ignoring is now gone.  The voices in favor of a primary challenger are growing stronger, and this compromise will haunt him for the rest of his first term.

UPDATE (12/10/10)
Bernie Sanders Quasi-Filibusters on Friday
Though he is not preventing any legislation from being considered or being voted on, he will be spending the entire day talking, reading letters from constituents, and otherwise educating people on the truths behind this deal.

Some interesting facts:
The extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy affect < 5% of the US population
The estate tax affects < 0.3% of the US population (only affects the mega-rich)

Furthermore, Obama now claims that these cuts will not create a single job in the US.

So let's review:
Extending the Bush tax cuts will...
NOT create a single job;
cost $700 billion over 10 years;
that will be almost entirely borrowed (93%); and
affect < 5% of the US population.

IF you are interested in who is opposed to the deal, the tally of Democratic votes in the House is 68-11 against the compromise


And I'm supposed to be rewarding the president for a 2-year extension just to get 13 months of unemployment benefits?  How about no...
 
In Short: Democrats may filibuster in the Senate, and more than 25% of House democrats have vowed to vote no.