Yea, I know... again with this bruddaone...? sigh...yea again...I feel compelled to keep repeating this...after reading all these primary Obama and hear, hear Bernie Sanders diaries...
As the title suggests, Obama has an old white guy problem...and I think he's more keenly aware of it...then I or others have given him credit for...
As they say...politics is a dirty game...a high contact sport...and with any sport after the game is played...you review the tape...and that is what I did....
Now I admit I was thoroughly disgusted by Clinton being under the seal...until I watched the tape again...and recognized what was happening....Obama gave the public what they wanted...which was validation...if you watch the tape he sits there patiently until the press takes the bait right around the 10:40 mark...the sly smile, the gentle nudging of Clinton to the front tells it all...the press took the bait hook, line and sinker...give America what it wants... assurance from a old white man...
That's not a sign of weakness, or someone who's not in charge, or someone who's tone deaf as suggested here...that's someone who is very cunning, savvy and used to operating in a world of white privilege...and has figured out how to succeed despite it...
Now you say the Tax Deal is crap, I'm not going to debate whether one is right or wrong about that...but considering he called for a vote on it months ago...and Democrats scurried under the rocks...
Senate Democrats are looking to punt the tax-cut debate past the November elections, facing pushback from Democrats facing re-election in 2010 who worry about getting tagged with raising taxes on small businesses, senior Democratic aides say. The party gathered Thursday afternoon for a caucus-wide meeting to set the pre-election agenda.
Democrats emerged from the meeting mostly mum about what final decision had been reached, though Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said it was "generally accepted" that no vote would be taken before the election.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the number two Democrat, added that "the likelihood of our passing anything by way of tax extensions is very, very slim." Like many of his colleagues, however, he said no final decision was reached. "Harry will make the final decision," Durbin said.
The White House has been pushing hard for such a vote, circulating polling showing that a majority of Americans, including wide margins of independents, support extending the middle-class tax cuts. Ultimately, though, Democrats up for election feared an assault from the GOP that the party was raising taxes on "small businesses," even though a vanishingly small portion of those who would face a tax hike are real small businesses. But, in an age of 30-second commercials, it only takes one to stare into the camera and lament the effect of the tax change on hiring.
Two members of Democratic leadership -- Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) -- are facing tight races, as are Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).
Dems Running from Tax Vote
I mean how can you say, he was responsible for a bad deal...Democrats have spent two years running from him and policies...buying into FOX News propaganda about what America wants....they left him high and dry...he had to do this to keep 2 million from being unemployed
But here's the kicker...
Some Republicans are crowing that Stimulus II is the Republican way - mostly tax cuts - rather than the Democrats' spending orgy of Stimulus I. That's consolation? This just means that Republicans are two years too late. Stimulus II will still blow another near-$1 trillion hole in the budget.
At great cost that will have to be paid after this newest free lunch, the package will add as much as 1 percent to GDP and lower the unemployment rate by about 1.5 percentage points. That could easily be the difference between victory and defeat in 2012.
Obama is no fool. While getting Republicans to boost his own reelection chances, he gets them to make a mockery of their newfound, second-chance, post-Bush, Tea-Party, this-time-we're-serious persona of debt-averse fiscal responsibility.
Krauthammer
The Chuckster is a smug right-wing ass...but I have to agree with him here...and he hasn't pointed out...the real problem he has...the fact that Obama wants to re-work the tax code...with all these fresh new Tea Baggers coming in, who have very little interest in falling in line behind Boehner and McConnell, according to all accounts published...the mere mention of reworking the tax code is a wet dream for these guys...so guess what... he gets to renegotiate the taxes again in a few months all the while keeping in place the unemployment benefits for an additional 13 months and getting stimulus to give the economy a chance to recover....viola the long game...
I actually think this new Congress will benefit him more than having the majority...when you look at guys like Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown...now taking a stance and screaming about the wrongs of the tax deal...where were those guys when the battle was being fought...if they felt so strongly about it...why not get a spine before the midterm election....
Here's where Obama's old white guy problem comes in...on the Right...they hate Democrats...but they also hate the fact they are being lead by a Black man...that's not sitting well with them...I hesitate to call it racism...because you never truly know what's in a person heart...but some of it is racism...some of it's ego and some of it's unfamiliarity...which is going to cause them not to think clearly...and make mistakes...
But Obama has the same problem on the left...it was evident early on by Harry Reid himself...
Reid stated, "I don't believe in the executive power trumping everything... I believe in our Constitution, three separate but equal branches of government."
"If Obama steps over the bounds, I will tell him. ... I do not work for Barack Obama. I work with him," he said.
Harry Reid
That's no respect for the leader of your party and I got to say it's a first on my part of hearing such nonsense...and that's been the problem all along...a lack of respect by the old white men in his party...if they would have put their ego aside and took Nancy Pelosi's lead instead of Harry's imagine what could have been accomplished in two years...
The Right's lack of respect is to be expected...but from your own party...that's horrible...