Put aside for a moment all the signals and symbols and pronouncements and punditry and other hoo-ha about the state of the tax cut debate and consider this simple fact: now that the House has passed the Obama tax cut plan, one and only one proposal to extend middle-class tax cuts has passed either chamber of Congress -- and the only thing standing between it and President Obama's desk is the threat of a GOP filibuster.
Now that we're so close to the end, the question is whether President Obama is willing to stand up, fire up the nation, and drag his plan across the finish line by holding Senate Republicans accountable if they choose to filibuster middle-class tax cuts. Apparently, the answer that question is "no," at least based on this statement from Robert Gibbs:
The President continues to believe that extending middle class tax cuts is the most important thing we can do for our economy right now and he applauds the House for passing a permanent extension. But, because Republicans have made it clear that they won’t pass a middle class extension without also extending tax cuts for the wealthy, the President has asked Director Lew and Secretary Geithner to work with Congress to find a way forward. Those discussions started just yesterday and are continuing this afternoon. The talks are ongoing and productive, but any reports that we are near a deal in the tax cuts negotiations are inaccurate and premature.
Talk about a buzzkill. After the House passes the Obama tax plan -- something we were told the House would never do, even though it ended up passing by 46 votes -- the first thing we hear from the administration is sorry, but Republicans won't let us do the right thing -- so we're going to sit down with them and figure out the best way to do the wrong thing.
Gibbs might as well have just said it in clearer language: "Hostage-taking works. And we can't do anything about it. Sorry for all the raised expectations."
Update: Senate Dems are planning to force a vote on the House-passed tax cut plan. Given that it's President Obama's plan, he really should stand up for it.