All this 'anger' from House Democrats and other legislators about the tax deal

[bigtree]

What's stopping them from forging their own way, if they're actually able? It makes no sense for them to be posturing like the compromise forged by the President came out of the blue. Like he said today, he urged them to bring the matter up for a vote before the election.

If they have a solution, or a better compromise, they'd better get on with it. From their universal silence after their failed votes in the Senate - and before the President's announcement - it was as if they were just waiting for the President to hang himself before they swooped in to criticize. That's not leadership, it's just cynical politics.

Congress has no credibility on the repeal of the upper-income tax cuts. If they are so opposed to extending the Bush cuts, they should either step out of the way and refuse to advance the President's compromise for a vote, or, vote against it if it comes up.

All of the posturing because the President stepped ahead of them and acted to rescue the middle-class portion of the Bush tax cuts ignores their own failure (for whatever reason) to decouple the good cuts from the bad. They are responsible for allowing the 'test' votes to be pushed back to a month before the expiration deadline.

Nothing is stopping House Democrats or Senate Democrats from forging their own coalitions behind whatever they actually support. I'd be surprised, though, to see a majority allow the expiration date to happen because of their vote. The real hypocrisy will come from the ones who took pot shots at the President but end up voting for his compromise anyway.

The debate over the President's agreement looks like a free-for-all in Congress right now. History has shown that Democrats usually rally to advance leader-organized legislation. But, it's not clear that whatever changes (if any) are made in either body will easily reconcile with one another. That's the next challenge; getting the House and Senate to agree. They'd better get on with resolving that.

[Rex]

1. We should be kicking more Congress ass (around here) for puting him into horrible

positions over and over. I blame Congress far MORE then I do the POTUS - he is one man, they are a body of supposed lawmakers making 'good business decisions for the good of America'.

[ClassWarrior]

2. Agreed. Good thing that when Congressional leadership failed, Obama jumped right in there.

:eyes:

Get real. Any large body of people needs leadership. And neither Harry nor Barack provided it.

NGU.

[bigtree]

4. they should be thanking the President

. . . for stepping up and taking the heat.

[Rex]

5. Well since Obama came directly from the Senate, I didn't have

great hopes from the beginning. OTOH, putting the blame ALL on one pair of shoulders won't solve anything.

[patrice]

9. Democratic Party leadership is zilch. Like a bad marriage, letting things get fucked up

so you can say, "I don't have to commit to a fix, because he is ___________________."

Depending upon Obama's base to deliver the midterms and then running away from him as much as possible.

[young but wise]

3. Congress suck ass. They were too worried about their relection. Fuckers.

[Rex]

6. Which is why we so need TERM LIMITS.

Now more than ever! It is apparent Congress cannot function well with career politicians working against the public good.

[JamesA1102]

7. Why didn't they vote on this before the election

when the President asked them to.

[BeyondGeography]

8. Thoughtful

Certainly, there's plenty of blame to go around.

I think some unfortunate precedents/indicators were set in place with HCR, which was a tortuous, closed-door process only resolved at the buzzer.

There doesn't seem to be much trust or even respect between the President and his own party. Sherrod Brown said tonight this was a deal "negotiated between a Democratic President and Republican leaders." A very clinical description, rather detached and alienated.

One thing that's in the air I think is the survivors of the midterms are mostly liberal and the President is moving to the right, for practical reasons that mean little to many in the party. Moreover, the way Obama has handled this saga has inflamed the left, which threatens to put more distance between the two. This, among other reasons, is why I think Obama blundered today by unnecessarily tweaking those who are insufficiently grateful for his efforts. We didn't need that, and neither did he.

[patrice]

10. +1 Internal stuff in the party is more important to the party than step-wise solutions. nt