Peer through the ideological fog and you'll see how Obama has AGAIN BEATEN the Repugs.

[RBInMaine]

The Repugs have said NO in ultra-lockstep to virtually everything. They have the Senate votes to block whatever they want to block.
The tax cuts JUST for the middle class JUST failed in the Senate. That vote has been taken and FAILED. FAILED FAILED FAILED and WILL NOT PASS. What in the name of Christ is unclear about that? Do some people live in another universe? An alternative reality? Some are insanely arguing and trying to hold out for something that HAS ALREADY FAILED AND WILL NOT PASS. Hello? Anyone home? Did the brain go on holiday?

So, Obama and his team said "Alright, we'll agree to a VERY TEMPORARY extension of your cuts, and YOU will NOT say NO in lockstep this time and will agree to an extension of jobless money, stimulus tax breaks, as well as the middle class cuts because if you stay in lockstep opposition even to that, YOUR necks will be on the fucking slab of public opinion and you damn well know it." Think about it. He got them to actually DEAL. He got them to give up their sacred cows of PERMANENT extensions of the tax cuts for the rich and made them CAVE IN ENTIRELY on jobless benefits and stimulus extensions which they abhor. Given today's R party which wants to say NO to anything and everything, this was a brilliant move. But some blinded by ideological extremity just can't see this, and it is very very sad.

So go ahead. Try holding out for something that can not and will not pass and which has ALREADY lost. And when the middle class wakes up on January 1st to higher tax rates and millions continue to lose their homes and can't feed their kids because they don't have jobless benefits, YOU will be the ones whose necks will be on the slab of public opinion.

Politics is the art of achieving what is possible at a given point in time, not the stone wall of the ideal. It never has been. It never will be.

Pass the compromise now, and we can have a nice healthy fight about PERMANENT tax breaks for the rich in a year. That issue is not going away. TODAY we need to do right by the middle class and our economy. This is a no-brainer.

[cali]

1. I wish I could agree with you

instead, I believe that the extensions of the tax cuts for the wealthy have flung the door open to draconian cuts in social programs. Nor do we know how temporary these tax cuts are. As for the repukes being beaten down, that's just revisionism. Who was it that said over and over and over again that no way no how would those tax breaks be extended.

[GoCubsGo]

12. That's what angers me most about this.

And, those cuts in social programs are on top of the ones we're already seeing at the state level. Yes, it's great that he got the extension for some of the people collecting unemployment. But, it's just putting a band-aid on a scratch on the arm, while the leg is hemorrhaging. Sure, those people got an unemployment extension. What is going to happen when that runs out, and there are still not only no jobs, but no other help for them? And, what about the millions of us who are beyond UI? What now?

[DirkGently]

22. Yep. And Obama has already hinted at this himself. But somehow thinks Repubs will bear the blame.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. A lot of us may not be happy about the deal

but some of their side aren't either, which makes it more than just a simple "cave in" on our side. The teabaggers probably view their side as having "caved in" as well. We're obviously getting SOMETHING tangible out of the deal if the other side is upset too. :shrug:

[martymar64]

3. And in two years he will cave on the tax giveaway to the rich extension again

We nominated and elected the wrong guy.

Your contortions to polish this turd are pretty transparent.

[whosinpower]

14. +1 nt

agreed

[Ganja Ninja]

4. So in 2012 when the Republicans are pointing to "Obama's Deficit"

And FOX is bashing the Democrats over the head with it we'll have a nice healthy fight.

If he can't get it done now, between elections, he's never going to get it done. This compromise has sealed the Democrats fate in 2012.

[JHB]

5. I appear to have missed the part where the administration made an issue of the R's lockstep,...

...Soviet-Politburo-grade conformity opposing anything and everything that isn't within their own agenda. Talk about "purists"... Wouldn't it have made sense to push for this back in September or October, so the Republicans would be forced to vote for middle-class-only tax cut extensions and unemployment extensions, or else get hammered as hostage takers in the midst of an election?

There was nothing unexpected about what the Republicans are doing. Their lockstep was well known throughout the reign of the Chim-Chim-in-Chief, and very clear even before the Democratic primaries. They telegraphed (some even said outright) what they would do once Obama was elected, they have done it consistently for two years.

Chess (of any dimension) requires thinking ahead, working out moves and counter-moves as far ahead as one can to advance your "agenda" and block the opponent from advancing his. Yet time after time, issue after issue, it seems that the administration makes its political calculations based only each individual situation, discounting how it will play out down the road, discounting how it might work in combination with other matters, and discounting the cumulative effect each individual "deal" has on his supporters.

That, far more than "purity", is what has "the left" constantly up in arms. There is no sense that there's a long game at work, at least nothing in the direction for the Hope and Change You Can Believe In that the administration rode into office on.

[Hepburn]

6. GMAB....

....tax cuts for the wealthy are tax cuts for the wealthy. If it walks like a duck, has feathers and quacks...it's a duck.

:puke:

[SKKY]

7. There's one more thing to this that you may have missed...

...the fact that because this will increae the deficit, the tea party will start their never-ending whinefest about deficits. The more "engaged" the tea party is, the better in my book. It serves to more clearly define the alternative.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. I'm an atheist and I wake up and pray every day to be spared

another victory like this one.

[sweetapogee]

9. I really

hate to say this but houston, we have a problem.

There, I said it.

The sooner we acknowledge that we have a problem, the sooner we can take steps to correct it. We are drifting too far out in space to be affected by any kind of fog, idealogical or otherwise.

Cold shower time, eom (over and out).

[styersc]

10. Yeah Right.

And I'm afraid he's about to "Beat the Repugs" in the same way with DADT, Dream Act and START.

[rug]

11. Obama has AGAIN BEATEN the Repugs.

[secondwind]

13. Pence and DeMint are already preparing legislation to make the cuts PERMANENT,

[Ganja Ninja]

19. Nothing can be made permanent.

That's all just talk. Any piece of legislation can be overturned. The closest they could come to "permanent" is a constitutional amendment.

[rurallib]

15. the fight for permanent tax cuts takes place in 2 years during the pres. campaign

who wins in that set up?
especially when the ultra rich control the media and will buy much of the commercial time.

Thom Hartmann has said for a long time that the right has picked the Democratic candidate since 1972. This is probably the finest example.

[Cosmocat]

20. the "fight" went down in flames w/the greatest D margins in congress

we have seen in a LONG time and are likely to see for a long time ...

The Rs have the fricken house moving foward and the senate is all but 50/50 ...

Anyone who sees some kind of benefit to having this fight two years from now is just freaking flat out of their minds ...

[mtnsnake]

16. When you own the majority, shouldn't you be putting your foot down instead of dealing?

Have the Repukes ever dealt with us when they were in charge? No, they just rammed a pile of right wing garbage through with barely a peep out of us. What's the sense of owning the WH, the Senate, and the House if we're going to give in and deal?

So, Obama and his team said "Alright, we'll agree to a VERY TEMPORARY extension of your cuts

VERY TEMPORARY? I don't call 2 years very temporary, and it leads to the very real possibility that they'll be made permanent two years from now. I would rather have seen Democrats stand firm and let ALL of Bush's tax cuts expire including my own middle class ones if it meant standing up to the Republicans and getting the tax revenue necessary to get this country back on its feet financially. By dealing with Republicans and extending the tax cuts, where are we supposed to get the bread to fix our financial situation? Off of money trees?

[TreasonousBastard]

17. Yes. As I said earlier, he found a chink in Republican armor and...

has put them in the position to be the bad guys taking away middle class tax cuts, UE, and other things when it will really hurt them.

Both sides caved in some things to get was really important to them. As some judge famously said "Both sides are pissed, so it must have been a good settlement."

2012 is eons away in political time, and we have no idea what things will look like then. What we do know is that the opposition as of now has absolutely no record of doing anything for at least 80% of the population, including their own teabaggers.

[xchrom]

18. Hasn't it been estimated the government will have to

Borrow 980 billion for this win?

Some win.

[Clio the Leo]

21. Are you saying "Chill the F out!"?

.... I think you may be right. ;)

[displacedvermoter]

23. And put it on the "Accomplishment List" ASAP!!!