Obama speaking live now.

[Poll_Blind]

Watch live at the White House Live Stream

PB

[JuniperLea]

1. Please feed the cube rats!

Please!

And thanks in advance!

[Poll_Blind]

2. He's railiing against the Republicans extension of tax cuts for millionaries.

Gives me hope!

PB

[Poll_Blind]

4. Talking about Republican obstructionism. n/t

PB

[Poll_Blind]

7. Oh shit. Just said basically "As much as I'd like to fight...it would be the wrong thing to do".

So he's saying he doesn't want to have a showdown with the Repugs.

PB

[JuniperLea]

9. Crap!

I can't see delaying the obvious... there will be a showdown at some point.

[Poll_Blind]

10. Ok, so he's saying (I think) he'll give into the millionaire tax cust BUT...

...they have to extend unemployemnt.

[lpbk2713]

15. He's a day late and a dollar short.

He should have done something about the Party of No two years ago
when he had the chance and when momentum was in his favor.

[Myrina]

12. Let me guess: I'm against it but I'll let them have it anyway

... because I'm a weenie with daddy issues and I want the Republicans to LOOOOOVEEE meeeeeee because my daddy didn't ...

or something like that ...

[Ruby the Liberal]

34. Yeah, thats about it.

[Poboy]

48. Good summation Myrina. Thats about it.

[malaise]

3. Thanks

Watching.

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. Working families will become collateral damage due to Washington

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. Fighting is the wrong thing to do. No symbolic battles or victories...

[Hannah Bell]

39. $67 billion ain't symbolic.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ruby the Liberal]

11. H won't allow permanent extension on wealthy without unemployment extension

[Myrina]

which means in 2 years when they're up for sunset again ...

... the new GOP Senate and GOP President can make them permanent. And the rest of us can look forward to serfdom.

[Catherina]

18. So the poor get a few crumbs and the rich get their tax cuts.

I'm so disgusted.

[Ruby the Liberal]

42. Their tax cuts AND an extension of the estate tax waiver.

USA USA USA!

:eyes:

[Ruby the Liberal]

13. 2 year extension of tax cuts for wealthy. {Fucking sellout}

[savannah43]

27. He caved? I'm shocked, I tell you.

He should be impeached for being a damn Republikan. He's the cowardly liar.

[spanone]

14. he's splainin' the compromise.....he doesn't like it, but he's doing it

mainly so he can get the unemployment extension

[malaise]

19. I would have let all the tax cuts expire

but then I'm not running a country. I am pissed.
I can see ReTHUGS popping champagne corks about now.
Bare fuckery. :puke:

add

[spanone]

55. you know they are. high fiving each other. it's a sad day for our party.

[ThomWV]

16. And to think I voted for that cowardly man. If he's caving now what will he do next month?

The fucking republicans aren't even in power yet and he caves - what will he do next month when they run the show?

[northernlights]

43. they already run the show. they've been running the show for about 30 years now. nt

[Ruby the Liberal]

17. Unacceptable for rich people's taxes to go up when no one else's does

[Subdivisions]

20. Compromise: Rich get tax cuts. Unemployed get 13 more months.

[Ruby the Liberal]

21. Estate tax extension, but "temporary"

[Poll_Blind]

22. I saw dozens of threads predicting this on DU over the last few weeks.

Basically, it's a set up: They give us unemployment extensions and we give them the millionaire tax cuts for another two years.

[somone]

23. There you have it

[Ruby the Liberal]

24. He 'doesn't like it'. But its the 'right thing to do' {Whatever}

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

25. How long is UI extended??

[Poll_Blind]

28. 13 months, a little over half as long as the tax breaks for the wealthy. n/t

PB

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

36. Thanks PB

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

32. There have been extended debates over this in Washington????

Everyone on the outside looking in predicted this outcome.

[Poll_Blind]

26. Unemployment extensions for _13 months_, tax cuts for wealhty for _24 months_

:shrug:

PB

[Ruby the Liberal]

29. What a crock of shit. Do we hold BOTH fucking houses today or not?

:grr:

[BlueCheese]

44. Will the House go along with this?

Then again, some 70 members of the Progressive Caucus said they wouldn't vote for any health insurance bill that didn't include a public option, and in the end they all caved.

Our side keeps getting its lunch money taken.

[Mimosa]

49. As of today, we did.

But Obama can't twist arms.

[Catherina]

30. "If Obama Will Not Fight for Fair Taxes and Fiscal Stability, What Will He Fight For? "

If Obama Will Not Fight for Fair Taxes and Fiscal Stability, What Will He Fight For?
by John Nichols

When Barack Obama walked out of last week's meeting with Mitch McConnell and John Boehner and started talking about developing a "productive" working relationship with Republican congressional leaders who have sworn the political equivalent of a blood oath to destroy his presidency, it was clear that the president planned to abandon his many years of advocacy for ending Bush-era tax breaks for millionaires.

Now, with the lame-duck session of a Congress still entirely controlled by Democrats races toward a earlier-than-expected conclusion, the deal is being cut.

Obama's representatives-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and White House budget director Jack Lew-have reportedly entered the final stages of a negotiation with the Republican team of Arizona Senator Jon Kyl and Michigan Congressman Dave Camp to extend all Bush tax cuts for for at least two years.

In return, federal unemployment benefits will be extended for up to one year.

The only remaining sticking point has to do with the question of whether to offer a small tax credit for working Americans-the "Make Work Pay" provision-and a tax credit for students, both of which were developed as part of the 2009 economic stimulus package. Remarkably, Republican negotiators who are going to the mat to defend $140 billion in tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans are objecting to maintaining $70 million in tax credits for the other 98 percent.

This negotiation is not headed toward a compromise. It is headed toward a complete capitulation.

The argument will be made that Obama and the Democrats had to fold in order to secure an extension of unemployment benefits.

But the political, fiscal and logical calculus does not add up.


More:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/12/06-2

[yourout]

66. He will fight against Bushco Investigations apparently.

[Confusious]

31. We can't play politics, but that's what the republicans are doing. nt

[Poll_Blind]

33. Man he got the hell out of that room fast. n/t

PB

[GSLevel9]

35. 2 more years to billionaires...

2 more years of the BUSH middle class cuts...

and


13 months more UI.

Repubs win. Win on both fronts in fact. They can't be attacked for the UI issue AND can claim to have prevented the evil Kenyan Socialist Muslim from raising everyone's taxes.

Normal people just got stuck holding the bag. And Obama got owned.

[BlueCheese]

37. How did the freaking estate tax get into this?

Was that even part of the conversation two days ago?

[GSLevel9]

38. it was part of the BUSH tax cuts of 2000 nt

[Confusious]

40. The repugs knew he would give in

The middle class is sooooooooooooooooooooooo fucked.

We get to pay for all this.

[BlueCheese]

52. One suspects...

... that once Obama made known his position a few days ago that he was willing to accept an extension of the income tax breaks, the Republicans tossed the estate tax in as a new demand.

[Poll_Blind]

41. Funny you should mention that- I was trying to fucking puzzle that out too.

What Obama's hinting at is that the tax breaks for the wealthy for 24 months just wasn't enough for the Repugs.

PB

[Ruby the Liberal]

51. Why no, no it wasn't.

Can someone please find the President's balls and have them reattached?

[adigal]

45. Why do the Dems have to compromise, if the President

doesn't want to hold the people hostage??? I am SO SICK OF DEMS BEING WEAK AND COWARDLY!!!!!!!!!!! Sick, sick, sick of it.

[muffin1]

46. I wish DU had a 'raspberry' smilie. Or a middle finger smilie.

Those were my first reactions while watching. Well, at least I'll always have :puke:.

Utterly FUCKING disgusting.

[bullwinkle428]

47. Sounds like he's bending over on the estate tax as well. Wow, I

couldn't be more fired up and ready to go! :sarcasm:

[Subdivisions]

50. Fucking SELLOUT! We have the goddamned majority! And yet the

fucking RepubliCANS get what they want? Even a break on estate taxes?

BULLSHIT!

We could have jacked up taxes on the wealthy, kept the tax cuts for the middle class, and we could have extended unemployment benefits.

But NO! So fucking lame.

[Gin]

56. why the hell did I vote for this rethuglican in disguise?

[Subdivisions]

60. I voted for hiM twice! n/t

[Poll_Blind]

53. Did Obama just pretend like the Lame Duck didn't exist? WTF?!

Really, he's bending over when we still have the House and Senate. He says he doesn't like doing it like this, questions the wisdom of it.

Cold comfort.

PB

[Subdivisions]

54. That's right! We still have the overall majority. AND WE LOST AGAIN! n/t

[Poll_Blind]

57. Don't ever forget that when he did this we had the Presidency, the House AND the Senate.

PB

[Gin]

58. Bernie Sanders says he will try to prevent the 60 vote needed...

hopefully it will be stopped

[Subdivisions]

62. Fillibuster this piece of shit the old-fashioned way RIGHT THROUGH

FUCKING CHRISTMAS!

[Little Star]

59. It's sure great to have a...

Democratic President!!!! Makes me want to work to get him re-elected.
:sarcasm:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

61. Anyone have a preference?

[Buns_of_Fire]

63. Has the UI extension been inextricably tied to the tax breaks, or is this going to be another

"well, we thought it over, and we decided cutting the unemployed some slack wasn't in the best interests of our rich friends. Thanks for the tax break, though!" moment?

[BzaDem]

64. It would all be one bill. n/t

[Buns_of_Fire]

65. Well, that's SOMETHING. At least the administration seems to have learned to Get It In Writing... nt