On my favorite morning show, Tom Joyner, the President checked in....
for many African-Americans this is where we get together, to laugh, to gain perspective and to hold each other up.....
I know that this perspective is unpopular here...but in my neighborhood we listen and this is what we heard....
Tom Joyner asked the President about the polarization in Washington and the "tax compromise" that the President worked out....
The President responded:
Well, look, obviously the politics in Washington have been very polarized for a long time. And I understand that when Republicans are being in many ways unreasonable, saying that they want tax breaks for wealthy folks maintained at a time when we all know we're going to have to do something about the debt and the deficit, that Democrats are going to respond by saying that doesn’t make any sense.
And you know what, the Democrats are right that it doesn’t make any sense. But right now we've got 2 million folks who are getting the unemployment insurance and that runs out at the end of the month. And right now we've got middle-class families - basically most of your listeners - whose paychecks would be smaller starting on January 1st if we don't solve this problem now. And I'm not talking just a little bit smaller, I'm talking $3,000 smaller.
So if you're a family that's getting by on $50,000-$60,000 a year, the notion that suddenly you’ve got $3,000 less - that would just be terrible for those families, but it would also be bad for the economy.
And so what I've said is that right now the best thing we can do for the economy, for jobs, and for American families is to resolve this issue. It does mean giving Republicans things that I don't think are reasonable, that I campaigned against, but I'm not going to have the American people held hostage to this argument here in Washington.
And ultimately I think that's where most Democrats are going to come down. We may not like it, but it’s the right thing to do short term. Long term, we've got to keep on having this fight with Republicans about why it is that their only economic idea is protecting wealthy people. It’s just a wrongheaded approach to how we grow our economy. But they are dug in and they’re not going to budge, and they’re willing to see the American people suffer from this argument.
He also said this:
you remember that story about Solomon and the two women coming, arguing about that baby. And ultimately you don't split the baby in half; you save the baby and then figure out how to move forward from there. And right now my number-one priority is making sure that the American people are protected, and all those folks who need unemployment insurance, they’re protected, and that we’re in a position to continue to grow the economy and make progress that we’ve been making over the last two years.
As a person who has far too many relatives on unemployment....I appreciate the President not "cutting them in half". Thank you Mr. President....