Dems in Congress are debating same issue we are.
Democrats in Congress worry that Obama will cave to GOP
Impatient and worried about their futures as their power wanes, the liberals who dominate Democratic congressional caucuses want to see President Barack Obama fight harder for their causes.
They're concerned that he may emulate former President Bill Clinton and cut deals with Republicans on GOP terms too much for their liking.
But the tax cut extension is seen as the truest litmus test of whether the president is still willing to fight for his base. Liberals want to extend the breaks only for the working and middle classes - a stand Obama championed all fall - but the president has signaled recently that he may acquiesce to Republicans, who want to extend the tax reductions for the wealthy as well.
If Obama is open to compromise on his once-firm stand, that will amplify questions that Democrats have been asking for nearly two years - essentially, what does he stand for when his back's to the wall? - questions that were vigorously, at times angrily, discussed last week at closed party meetings on Capitol Hill.
Those who say that misgivings about Obama's leadership get blown all out of proportion here at D-Kos need to realize that the VERY SAME HEATED DEBATE is going on among Democrats in Congress.
Progressive members of congress worry that President Obama will assist the Republicans with their Race to the Bottom for 97% of Americans. Liberal Democrats made courageous stands in favor of the Middle Class Tax Cut during their recent campaigns and now they are afraid that Obama is about to undercut them.
Liberals argue that too often they've watched Obama compromise on health care, financial regulation, climate change and other issues. So now they want to know: What will he demand? How much of his own political capital will he stake to defend the principles he ran on in 2008? And what consequences will befall lawmakers who cross him?
Many liberals are openly disappointed and angry, and don't seem to fear the consequences of challenging the president.
"I think the greatest failing in this Congress was that the House ... enabled the White House, and the White House was not always right," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.
After a raucous House Democratic caucus last week at which liberals vowed to push Obama harder, DeFazio said, "We're beginning to revisit our relationship with the White House. I think we've got to push harder from our position to do what Democrats need."
Democrats in congress are clearly fed up with Obama's passive approach of letting legislation be watered down to the point where it does limited good, or in the case of more tax cuts for the uber-wealthy to damage the country.
Democrats vs. Republicans: Who wins the game of tax-cut chicken?
A filibuster of the Democrats' proposal, however, carries its own perils for conservatives, who would be forced to go on the record "holding the middle-class tax cuts hostage," in the words of Dean Baker, co-director of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research who opposes extending the cuts for wealthy Americans.
Make they craven bastards filibuster! And make them keep it going 24/7 with lots of TV coverage of how the Republicans are willing to screw 97% of Americans out of of their tax cuts for the exclusive benefit of the top 3%, America's wealthy elite. It would leave a lasting impression with Americans of the the Republicans' true priorities.
Halfhearted Soul-Searching at the White House
Soul-searching is under way at the White House, but so far it looks pretty sterile. There’s no Dick Morris sneaking in with advice from outside the bubble, or late-night bull sessions with Terry McAuliffe about how to raise money and stage a comeback.
Part of Obama’s problem is that there’s too much hero worship around him, and that translates into a reluctance to fault him for anything, except maybe that he didn’t make a good enough case for all the wonderful things he’s done. He has done good things, but the voters don’t give you credit for saving them from a depression; they reward you for making their lives better, and that hasn’t happened. The bankers on Wall Street are doing fine, but the other 80 percent of the country is hurting, and that’s not supposed to happen when a Democrat is in the White House.
Though he’s portrayed as a liberal, it’s not clear what he’ll fight for, and he keeps that deliberately vague, perhaps hoping to deliver on the post-partisan promise his election represented. The fight over whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts is a perfect example. The White House needs to settle on a strategy and then execute it, whatever it is. Hope is not a strategy, and the extent to which Obama seems to weigh the political considerations of whatever decision he makes reinforces the voters’ disillusionment that rather than leading, he has instead become part of the government—an implicit admission of his failure to bring about the change he ran on.
I hope Obama doesn't decide to go along to get along. I see even a temporary 2 year extension as being the equivalent to a complete capitulation.
It wasn't only younger voters that didn't turn out for the Democrats three weeks ago but many white blue collar workers who voted for Obama in 2008 voted for Republicans in 2010.
GOP's midterm gains concentrated in blue-collar areas
Results from November's midterm elections have exposed a deepening political divide between cities on the coasts and the less-dense areas in the middle of the country.
Much of the reason for the Democrats' decline in less-dense areas can be attributed to the party's trouble attracting white, working-class voters. Exit polls showed that Democrats lost white voters without a college degree - one way to measure blue-collar voters - by almost 30 percentage points in House races.
The Republican victories were concentrated in districts with those voters. In the 63 districts that Republicans won, 39 were older than the nation as a whole and 40 had a higher percentage of people without college degrees. The starkest difference was in racial composition: 47 of the 63 districts won by the GOP had a higher percentage of white people than the national average.
Blue collar workers doubted that Obama's policies were good for them. Any improvements Obama made weren't tangible enough to them to win their confidence. Blue collar whites took a "What have you done for me lately?" attitude toward Obama. The White House's miserable job of messaging was part of it, but only a part.
More daring changes that would have produced more tangible and immediate benefits for average Americans, would have gone a long way toward building their confidence in the President and his Party. Democrats need be bolder to solidify support for the Democratic Party and progressive policies IMHO.
Obama must decide if if its worth trying to placate the Republicans by abandoning his base.