In the two speeches the President has made that argument that the deals he made on tax cuts and the 2011 budget showed shared sacrifice.
Reducing spending while still investing in the future is just common sense. That’s what families do in tough times. They sacrifice where they can, even if it’s hard, to afford what’s really important.
Well, I have a question that I would like an enterprising reporter to ask.
Mr. President, if you were a private citizen today, what sacrifice would these measures create for you personally?
As far as I can tell, he would not have been impacted in a negative way by a single measure he has enacted during his shared sacrifice agenda the last 6 months.
That my friends, speaks volumes.
Progressive who are celebrating this deal deserve to be ignored in all future debates. Anyone who thinks that the President saved anything is downright foolish. If all you have to do is put a sacred cow on the table in legislation that will never pass, to get you what you want, you have been given the keys to the safe. Republicans understand this. Democrats do as well, but they pretend to be oblivious.
There were 2 or 3 Republicans playing bad cop to Boehner's good cop last week. And the President goes on TV and says he had to capitulate or Mike Pence would have been mean to him.
Worst.Negotiator.Ever
or
Best.Blue.Dog.Ever.
Triangulate and get your base to celebrate it. Brilliant.
Why don't they just insert an abortion and EPA rider in every bill and save us all of the kabuki and wasted time?
Future Republican strategies:
We will not raise the debt ceiling or we will resegregate schools.
We will kill medicare unless you repeal HCR.
We will filibuster the next Supreme Court nominee unless you eliminate PBS and NPR funding.
And Democrats would probably hand over the dog for the picture just to make their life easier.
Here is the Presidential Negotiation Strategy in nutshell.
Republicans - We demand you resegregate schools.
President Obama - Absolutely not. What if I give you $10 Billion to stop asking.
Republicans - Well gosh...I guess we will accept it, but we don't like it. Hrrmph.
President Obama - See what a great negotiator I am..
Republicans - (Door shuts) SUCKER!
President Obama - Man, I hope Republican make it look like I got pushed into the position I wanted to be in anyway
The Public - What about us? We just want to pay our heating bills?
President Obama and Republicans - SUCKERS!!!
Anyone that didn't realize yesterday's antics were nothing more than kabuki to try to garner goodwill on both sides before the preplanned compromise has not been paying attention.
It is as predictable as the sun rising.
There is simply no excuse that anyone can reasonably make at this point. The current Administration is not on the side of progressives. They care about two things. There ideology and their reelection. The sooner progressives realize this, the sooner progressives can come up with an appropriate local based plan for garnering power again in politics. Because right now, progressives are meaningless. And the CPC is doing nothing more than getting a paycheck.
It is time to hold the Democratic Party's feet to the fire. It is now or never. And celebrating kabuki like yesterday's planned parenthood charade is not a good start.