Has Obama said this? If not, why not?

[Jazz Ambassador]

OBAMA: "72% of the American people support raising taxes on millionaires and billionaires as part of an overall package to deal with our debt. 72%! I'm not sure what last the issue was that 72% of Americans agreed on, but there it is. So I have to ask my Republican colleagues: is sheltering the rich from even the tiniest sacrifice so important to you that you are willing to put it ahead of the national interest and the overwhelming will of the American people?"

Using the polling data on taxing the rich seems like a messaging no-brainer, but I haven't heard the WH do it. Did I miss it?

EDIT: And I find it telling that the percentage of Americans who don't want to tax the rich corresponds almost exactly with the number who still approved of Bush at the end of his presidency.

[TBMASE]

1. I don't think he has.

[GOPBasher]

2. Concise and eloquent. I'm going to quote you on that. n/t

[Ozymanithrax]

3. The issue is that 72% of the House doesn't want to raise taxes.

Neither Congress nor the President operate the government by public opinion. Republican/Conservative ideology will not allow them to raise a cent in taxes.

Obama is a President that wants a solution and a deal. He will deviate form public opinion sufficient to get Republicans to pass that deal.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. But why not? If 72% of their constituents want to raise taxes on the rich,

then those congresscritters are in defiance of their constituents - and if that case is made often enough and strongly enough, those same congresscritters will feel the results at the ballot box.

That's the PURPOSE of the 'bully pulpit' - to go directly to the people in order to force congress to do the right thing.

I guarantee, there is not one member of congress who is eager to be voted out of office.

[Ozymanithrax]

7. Because theory and reality are not the same thing...

In theory, we are a representative democratic republic, and our elected Representatives, once elected, are supposed to serve the interests of all their constituents. In reality, elected Republicans, Democrats, and uindependents can vote however they please. The theory is that we the people will hold them responsible for their failure to represent our interests. Reality shows that incumbents in most cases get re elected.

This is further complicated by our modern political system. Districts are redrawn every ten years after the census. In 2000 and 2010, Republicans held the majority of State legislatures and redrew boundaries to minimize Voters that did not agree with Republican ideology and maximum Republican voters. They also take polls of Republican voters, and in those polls they ask questions in such a way as to get the response they want, which for them is no new taxes and massive cuts to the social safety net.

Finally, the bully pulpit only works to move public opinion. Republicans don't listen to public opinion polls that do not reflect their belief system, so it has zero effect. Modern Republicans are fanatics about their Conservative ideology, true believers who will not be swayed. Their only purpose for existence right now is to regain complete control of the House, the Senate, and the White House. By manipulating congressional districts, voter suppression, and economic warfare they have a good shot at doing that.

[NYC_SKP]

4. That could be added to a graph of historic rates on top earners.

And the reminder that if Bush cuts were to create jobs, then where are all the fucking jobs?

:shrug:

[ProSense]

5. The President should repeat

what he said here.

It’s no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent. One response might be to celebrate the ingenuity and drive that brought good fortune to these people, and to contend that a rising tide lifts all boats. That response would be misguided.

While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise 18 percent over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall. For men with only high-school degrees, the decline has been precipitous—12 percent in the last quarter-century alone. All the growth in recent decades—and more—has gone to those at the top. In terms of income equality, America lags behind any country in the old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride. Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While many of the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such as Brazil, have been striving in recent years, rather successfully, to improve the plight of the poor and reduce gaps in income, America has allowed inequality to grow.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Amazing. Progressives have been saying that for YEARS and you have been

castigating them for it - now that Obama FINALLY says the same damned thing, you have nothing but praise.