Obama to rich people: get ready for your money!!!!

[Enrique]

He's practically screaming it. Extend, baby, extend! Temporarily (wink wink)!

http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2010/09/president-obama-to-pastor-jones-stunt-endangers-troops-full-transcript-of-exclusive-interview.html#tp

(...)

STEPHANOPOULOS: How deep is your commitment to this fight? Are you saying that if Congress passes a short term extension of all the tax cuts, you're gonna veto it?

OBAMA: George, here's what … I'm saying is that we've got a fundamental choice about this economy. You can't have Republicans running on fiscal discipline that we're gonna reduce our deficit, that the debt's out of control, and then borrow tens, hundreds of billions of dollars to give tax cuts to people who don't need them. (crosstalk)

(...)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Does that mean you will veto an extension of tax cuts to the wealthy?

OBAMA: What I am saying is that if we are going to add to our deficit by $35 billion, $95 billion, $100 billion, $700 billion, if that's the Republican agenda, then I've got a whole bunch of better ways to spend that money.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you're not saying you're gonna veto it.

OBAMA: I, there are a whole bunch better ways to spend the money.

STEPHANOPOULOS: How come you don't want to say veto?

OBAMA: There are a whole bunch better ways to spend the money.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay, but no veto yet. No veto threat yet. Let's take a broader look, heading into the Midterms. Our you just, you might have seen the, the latest ABC News poll, showing Republicans have a big advantage going into the election. And I'm just wondering when you look at what it says about your personal attributes, as well. More Americans seeing you as liberal. And when you ask questions like, "Does he share my values?" It's gone like this since you became President. What's your analysis of what that's about?

(...)

[BrklynLiberal]

1. yep.

[onehandle]

2. Now they'll vote for his Congress... No, they'll vote for the GOP, keep their tax cuts...

...and get a whole lot more.

[asjr]

3. Stephanopoulos is one of the more stupid

caretakers of the media. He will not ask what are the other ways to spend the money. He just wants to put Obama on the spot as saying he will veto it. This is gotcha journalism at its worst.

[depakid]

11. No blaming the media for this

It was a simple straight up matter.

It called for a yes or a no.

[asjr]

19. But, you see, that is my problem. Obama

didn't have to answer him. He tried to get Steph to ask him the other ways. Obama knew what he was being asked. I know you think I am being contrary and maybe I am. I just do not trust any member of the media anymore. And George Steph only helps the media to look stupid. I remember him from the first Clinton campaign and he was ready to abandon ship from the get go when faced with a not-so-good poll rating.

[valerief]

40. Wrong. He should have pursued the president's lead if he was actually covering the news.

Instead, he wanted a headline.

[shraby]

4. I don't read it that way. I read it as he will veto and then use

the money the veto saves to spend on other projects to get the economy moving. He just wouldn't tell them outright he'd veto it. As he's done before, after they try to extend, he'll use that attempt against them.

[Enrique]

6. why not say outright that he'd veto? n/t

[Teaser]

14. DUH. Because a veto threat makes it OK for Dems to vote for it

as they don't need to worry about it actually happening.

[Kweli4Real]

26. EXACTLY ...

and to borrow a line from the classic Lawrence Fishburn movie "Deep Cover" ...

"Macy's don't tell Gembles what they gonna do, Motherf@#%."

[Better Today]

5. He'll back down and kiss their asses, I predict. I hope I'm wrong.

[ClarkUSA]

36. Who's he? Whose "their"? nt

[Skink]

7. Barack the Timid.

[ClarkUSA]

47. Yeah, you could show him a thing or two about courage from behind that keyboard, eh?

:eyes:

[Cha]

48. Yeah, it might be able to show him something..if only

there was more to work with than cheap shots.

[sharp_stick]

8. Always a predictable

response from some people and their ability to read into a discussion shit that was never said.

[Enrique]

10. that's a good thing to do with policiticians

taking them at face value is not a good idea.

[Nite Owl]

9. I kept listening yesterday to hear him say that he

would veto but he didn't. Again it's what he says he wants but he won't seem to fight for it so it's just words.

[Fire1]

12. If he extends those cuts even temporarily, I fear that will be

the final nail in the coffin and I think he knows that.

[BluegrassDem]

13. No need for veto threat when it will never pass Congress anyway

No way the House and Senate passes tax cuts for the rich.

[ClarkUSA]

35. Exactly. Obama ally Speaker Pelosi will make sure of it. nt

[sharp_stick]

15. Issuing a veto threat

is different than what Stephie was asking for. A veto threat would be along the lines of "I will veto a bill that does not contain the items I require". You can work your way out of that one no matter what happens. Stephie was asking Obama to guarantee a veto on a single issue, something that nobody with any brains would do.

There are all kinds of problems that can crop up once you say something along the lines of "I will veto any bill that contains, or does not contain, this point". Just ask George Bush the smarter if he regrets saying "Read my lips, no new taxes".

You don't know what these problems are yet but uncertainty demands that you pay attention to them because if they do pop up that's a nice little hammer to be used during the next election cycle. Either the ad says, Obama promised a veto and did not deliver, he lies or. Obama vetoed the "world peace act" no mention of the fact that he had to veto the "world peace act" because it contained a puke poison-pill rider forcing tax break extensions and thus causing the veto.

The American people have proven over and over again that they are stupid enough to fall for one line political attack ads so it becomes important to try to stop them before they can even get started.

Note that Obama didn't say that he wouldn't veto it either.

[WI_DEM]

16. Hey did you know that they expire automatically at the end of this year? and that there are still

enough dems in the House and Senate who will defeat it if it comes up for a extension vote? you probably didn't. You just want to color it the way you want it to be anyway. Anything anti-Obama is fine.

[Fire1]

18. Hey! You're right!! He doesn't HAVE to veto!! Why didn't

Stephanopolis(sp) think of that?! Good lookin out!!!:thumbsup:

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. THIS weak-assed congress? When you can safely predict that 6-8

Senate blue dogs will vote WITH the republicans to extend the tax cuts?

He fucking BETTER veto it.

[Ikonoklast]

43. And they still won't have enough votes to get it passed.

If you think the rest of the Democrats in the Senate will just go along and vote for this, I have a bridge to sell you.


The Republicans DO NOT HAVE THE VOTES, and they know it.

[Cha]

50. Yeah, throw some shit against the wall and

see what sticks..

[kentuck]

17. I wish the President would have said outright that he would veto...

But he is being cautious.

The elections are in November. The taxcuts expire in January. Depending on how the Senate turns out, it may not even come up for a vote? The new Senate will take over after the taxcuts expire, if the Democrats do nothing.

It could be that this is a trap for the Repubs? If they insist on the taxcuts for the wealthy between now and election day, it woud make an excellent campaign issue. Especially since about 70% of Americans support letting the taxcuts expire on the wealthy.

The devil is in the details. If they expire on the wealthy, they expire on the poor also. And the Repubs want it voted on as one bill, including the wealthy.

So, what might happen? If the Democrats still control the House and Senate after November, they can let all the taxcuts expire and then pass a stand-alone Democratic taxcut bill after the first of the year. They could pass it for families making $250K or less per year. Or they may drop that to $150K per year. They could pass it with reconciliation without Repub help. And it would be a Democratic bill - not an extension of a George W Bush bill.

The President may be wise to hold his cards close to his vest on this one.

[ClarkUSA]

31. "The President may be wise to hold his cards close to his vest on this one."

:thumbsup:

[ClarkUSA]

32. self-delete

[prolesunited]

20. You're on a roll today

What do you hope to accomplish?

[Enrique]

21. to stop the tax cuts

it's hard to do when people think Obama will stop them, which he won't. They have to be stopped in the House, imo.

[bornskeptic]

33. So you want to stop the middle-class taxcuts as well?

With unemployment at 9.6% and the mortgage situation still a mess, the failure to extend the taxcuts for lower income groups, at least for a couple of years could devastate the economy. If the only bill President Obama can get from Congress extends all the taxcuts temporarily, he may have to sign it. Of course he would veto a stand-alone extension of the upper bracket cuts, but that's not going to be an issue. Stephanopoulos knows that. He was just being an ass.

[Enrique]

38. yeah, I want to go back to Clinton tax rates

and yeah, I remember Dick Armey warning about how Clinton's 1993 tax increases would devastate the economy. I want to return to the economic devastation of the 1990's.

[phleshdef]

22. He is being painfully vague. But it sounds more like he is saying he will veto it more than not.

He repeated "There are a whole bunch of better ways to spend the money" several times. That sounds more like he jumping to his defense of the veto to come, if it ever came to that (which I don't think it will).

[kentuck]

23. I don't understand how this process would work to extend...

The House is not going to vote to extend. That is not on Nancy Pelosi's agenda. I doubt that Harry Reid has intention of putting it on the calendar? Let them expire and then pass a stand-alone bill that gives taxcuts to those that need them. If the Repubs filibuster, then so be it.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

24. That's basically how it would work....

The hysteria of the OP notwithstanding, the tax cuts expire on their own. It would require an Act of Congress to restore them, and that's not going to happen.

[Enrique]

25. Obama has called for a bill extending some of them

the usual suspect dems have talked about extending all of them. There will be negotiations. These usual suspect dems have a history of getting what they want.

[ClarkUSA]

30. NYT: Obama will rule out any compromise that extends Bush tax cuts for wealthy BEYOND THIS YEAR

What does that mean to you? If you still have a hard time understanding what "beyond this year" means, read The New York Times article that was on the DU homepage for days: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4531661

Any type of conspiracy theory/tea leaf word parsing is ridiculous.

Some people really find it impossible to give credit to President Obama. :eyes:

[ClarkUSA]

28. Some people have made it a habit to distort and demonize anything Obama says. nt

[Tarheel_Dem]

44. Yup. There's a whole industry built on just that. Dkos found this out the hard way. (nt)

[Aramchek]

29. I pity the poor OP

[ClarkUSA]

37. Yeah, it's not as if we're still in the Clintonian doublespeak era anymore, thank goodness.

What also clear is the OP is unable to credit this President with making the right decision even when it's been front-page news on both the New York Times and DU: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4531661

[ClarkUSA]

34. Salon.com: "On tax cuts, Obama picks a fight. The President makes a case for social justice."

"The President makes a case for social justice. It's time for the wealthy to pay their fair share."

President Obama plans to announce today that he will not seek an extension of the tax cuts for the wealthy, thus setting up a direct confrontation between the administration and Republicans and wavering Democrats.

http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2010/09/08/obama_picks_a_side/index.html

How about them facts: President Obama is a damned liberal who is looking to fight both Republicans and DLC Democrats!

[Kweli4Real]

39. Okay ...

I know everybody is clamoring for him to say he would veto any bill that provides extensions for the rich (and in true Democrat fashion, as of late) see that as some great capitulation.

But the bigger question is why a couple of Democratic representative and a couple Democratic Senators have already sat down and written a bill, i.e., one for the House and one for the Senate with same language, that extends the cuts for the middle class and is silent on extending them for the >$250K crowd?

Then, and only then, can Democrats argue that republicans are holding 95% of the people hostage in favor of the rich. Right now, without such a Bill, the republicans can say that the Democrats have allowed 95% of the people's tax cuts to expire just because they did not want to extend them for the wealthy.

[grahamhgreen]

41. His speech was weak, too.... Hope you're wrong.

[jenmito]

42. I hope you're watching Gibbs' daily press briefing. He's shooting down ANY possibility of

an extension of tax cuts for the rich. He said a bill won't get to his desk with an extension of those cuts because the majority knows it's not helpful to the economy/deficit.

[Cha]

51. Yeah, so what in the

hell is the OP goin' on about..."rich people get ready for your money"..whoopeee:silly:

[Capn Sunshine]

45. You don't think giving the Rs a soundbite right before the election isn't a good idea?

Sorry but your take away from this is all wrong. Period.

[Recovered Repug]

46. "There are a whole bunch better ways to spend the money."

Is already a good sound bite to use.

[Cha]

49. It's not the first time. nt