I just heard Republican Representative Tom Cole from Oklahoma talking with glee on NPR about how the Republicans in the house will vote overwhelmingly for this deal. Why? President Obama took taxes off the table for the far more important negotiations over the debt ceiling.
It isn't what's in this deal that's so important, although I would have preferred far more revenue, it's the negotiating power the President has given up for the debt ceiling talks.
We all know the Republican party is completely owned and funded by a few Oligarchs that want to dismantle the government so they can pillage and rampage unchecked across the country. The things they hate worst are taxes, and government regulations.
The President had a huge amount of negotiating power as long as he had the automatic tax increases to hold over the heads of the Republicans. And the Republicans knew they had the automatic spending cuts that would gut very needed government services to hold over the heads of the Democrats.
The President has given away the thing the Republicans feared most. And now when we head into the far more important negotiations over the debt ceiling, the Republicans will beg to go over the cliff so the automatic spending cuts happen, while the Dems will have nothing to stop them with.
Tom Cole recognizes this victory over the President, and wasn't afraid to brag about it on national radio.
When the Democratic base see's how bad the deal over the debt ceiling will be, since the President now has a weak negotiating position, it will demoralize them and we could very well have a replay of 2010 in 2014.
We should be on the phones to our Dem reps in the house and tell them to reject this deal! This poor deal, sets up the next deal over the debt limit, to be a complete disaster for the progressive movement.