I Just read a blog on the Insanity Report and this person makes a compelling case about the constant whining of liberals about anything and everything obama does, and he hit it out the park with this latest rant about the obama deal on the tax cuts. Kriss, I applaud you (((KUDOS))
http://theinsanityreport.com/...
By now you’ve heard from liberals/progressives across the country about the latest "cave in" by President Obama on the Bush Tax Cuts. I’ll be honest. I’m shocked. Not by the perceived "cave in" but rather by the utter lack of grip people bitching have on reality. Yes...bitching. I realize that some on the Left hate to be called out about their whining but truth be told, I’m tired of it. Not because I’m an Obama Stan but rather because when you hold up even the dimmest light to the complaints, you still see how much bullshit it really is. Also I don’t like sitting by watching as one person takes all the blame when the real culprit sits back and points fingers at their scapegoat.
Complaint #1: Republicans got everything and we got nothing"
Ridiculously over the top complaint. The deal is: 2 year extension of the Bush Tax Cuts (for all income levels including the rich), extension of unemployment benefits for 13 months, Payroll tax cut and extensions of some tax credits from the stimulus. If that’s "getting nothing" then I need some liberals to look up the definition of ‘nothing.’ Republicans want the tax cuts permanent. This doesn’t make them permanent. It gives the President 2 years and hopefully in 2012, the elections will swing his way and he’ll have more Democrats on his side to do what he wants to do. This deal, while it does have some things Democrats don’t like gets things that Democrats haven’t been able to get in 2 years. Just last month Democrats voted to extend unemployment benefits and COULDN’T GET 100% OF THEIR OWN CAUCUS to vote for them. This takes care of that.
If you look at the deal we got, we are getting the bulk of the money being allocated. President obama made a bad situation into something that will help middle class familes. This opportunity will not happen with a more conservative Caucus in the January.
Complaint #2
"The President should just pass the middle class tax cuts"
First, a civics lesson: The President can’t pass anything. He’s the executive branch, not the legislative. The White House can work with Congress and help write get certain things into bills but at the end of the day, it’s only Senators and House of Representative members who get votes. If you’re wondering why Democrats don’t "just pass the middle class tax cuts" that’s easy. THEY DON’T HAVE THE VOTES.
Yeah, I guess President Obama isn't a 'LEADER" cause he can't get 60 votes out of 53. He sent a middle class tax cut to the Senate/House to be voted on. It failed in the SENATE 53-37. Well who voted against it? The same CONSERVADEMS who has continued to be a THORN in Obama's side since being elected.
Continued...
People keep saying they’re tired of the President trying to compromise with the GOP. I agree it sucks. But the President is probably tired of explaining in different ways how he doesn’t have the votes. You can’t ignore the fact that the reason the President has to reach across the aisle is because his own party won’t back him up on anything. Where are the votes? The votes aren’t there. They’ve never been there. I know because if they were, they would have handled the tax cuts 2 years ago and not waited until the 11th hour. This is what bothers me about everyone talking about how "soft" Obama is. What’s the President, a member of the Executive Branch, suppose to do when members of his party who control the Legislative Branch don’t do their fucking jobs? I see people all the time complaining that the President has failed to come through on closing Gitmo, Health Care Reform, tax cuts, etc. but every time I ask the simple question "where do you get the votes for that?" I get no response. Because there is no logical response to that. And the funniest thing is, instead of getting the President help by electing more liberal primary challengers, liberals stayed home during the midterm. So now either their conservative representative stayed in power or worse, some Tea Party republican is now in place. Brilliant.
Complaint #3:
He should have just let the tax cuts expire then hammer the GOP with raising taxes on the Middle Class"
Really? How do you see that working out. Let the tax cuts expire, make no deal, there would be no vote on only the middle class tax cuts because that bill can’t get enough Democrat support (and gets no Republican support) and people would be losing their unemployment benefits throughout the entire process. He faces a Republican controlled House and an almost deadlocked Senate in January. Without a deal the way this logically plays out is GOP House passes an extension of all the tax cuts (including the rich) then dares the Democrat controlled Senate to not pass it so the GOP can claim the Dems are about raising your taxes. And in that debate, the best case scenario is that everything in this current deal gets in (UE benefits, tax credits, etc) worst case is only the tax cuts pass...nothing else.
Complaint #4
This is still Obama’s fault. He had 60 seats in the senate and a huge majority in the House and did nothing with it."
This is my favorite complaint because it highlights how stupid the other person is. Democrats had 60 seats in the Senate. That didn’t last long after deaths and retirements came in. Even then, are you counting votes like Joe Liebermann? Liebermann purposely changed his mind at the last minute on the Medicare buy-in compromise because "Liberals seemed too happy about it." This is also the "Democrat" who campaigned against Obama for the Republican in 2008. He’s part of that "60 – seat majority." Also part of that are the "Blue Dogs." How do you expect to get Liberal policies through when you have conservatives has part of your caucus and NEED their votes?
And not to mention BEN NELSON, MARY LANDRIEU, MAX BAUCAS, KENT CONRAD who all didn't support some part of the healthcare law and threatened to not support it final passage. Again, if you don't have your own party behind you how do you get any things passed?
There are plenty examples of WHINING in this article/blog that he hit it out of the park on. The bottom line is that this tax cut deal that obama had to make with the GOP is GARBAGE but the reality of the situation is he had to make a decision given the choices he had RIGHT NOW that would prevent a double dip recession from happening. 3.3 million folks would lost their UI in january and taxes going up on middle class working folks who are already struggling. There would have been HELL TO PAY!! There are people right now who Unemployement checks have stopped and are about to be put out on the streets in the DEAD WINTER all because members of congress can't come together to get something passed. I am one of those who will be losing their benefits in December. I am currently on Tier 1 being I lost my job almost 6 months ago with no prospect in sight. I have a mortgage and other bills I have to pay that are in jeopardy if we don't extend the Unemployment Benefits. I am considered one of the HOSTAGES that obama is trying to save to prevent getting caught in the crossfire of this fight with the GOP. Time is not on our side and we have to move to get this deal passed. Folks who are struggling right now, don't care about this deal they just want HELP from the folks they put in office.