Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Enough is Enough

Ok I have just about had it with our Democratic Senators and Representatives.

Look I get you are upset with this tax deal. I get it is not what you would have preferred. It is not what I wanted either, it is a bitter pill.

What I do not get is unadulterated BS like this from Al Franken:

“A lot of people are unhappy that the President punted on first down, and I’m one of them,” Franken wrote in the message to supporters. “Extending the Bush tax breaks for the super-wealthy will explode our deficit over the next two years without doing anything to help our economy.”

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo…

or this from  CA Rep John Garamendi

WASHINGTON – Barely a year after taking office, California Democratic Rep. John Garamendi is criticizing his party’s president in no uncertain terms, accusing him of backing “the fabulously wealthy.”

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/201…

I think it time for just a little honesty here from the Democrats in Congress.

For two damn years the President clearly said what he wanted time and time again. Get rid of the upped bracket tax cuts let them go. And a majority of the American people agreed. Now did Democrats in Congress do anything about moving that idea forward over the past two years? If you did I sure as hell missed it.

Then comes this Fall, before the mid-terms and again the President repeated we needed to get rid of the upper bracket tax cuts. At every single campaign stop he made he repeated loose the upper bracket tax cuts and everybody cheered. And Congress? Sat on their collective hands.

And then you finally admitted what the problem was. . . you were afraid to do it. Both houses balked at voting on the tax cuts before the mid-terms when you had the damn leverage to do it and do it the way we all wanted. You were afraid that voting on the  taxes before the mid-terms would bite you in butts on election day. Well ladies and gentlemen you got your butts bit anyway. Here’s a thought, maybe just maybe had you done the right thing in the first place a few of you would still be around come January ’11.

And this idea The President punted on first down what a pile of ……!!

How about you clowns on the offensive line didn’t do squat for the first three downs and after the mid-terms were left in a fourth an long situation. You had squandered your leverage, you ceded the high ground on this issue. So what does the President see? A lame duck where START, DADT and the DREAM Act all need to get done and a Republican Party folding their arms and laughing their asses off. Telling you, the President and the country none of this gets done until you deal with the tax cuts. Ooops!

So the President steps in not on first down, but fourth and long and comes up with a play to save your sorry asses so you could maybe move ahead on DADT, START, and Dream before the next Congress where none of it gets done.

And this he gave up before he started these negotiations. Really? You leave  him in a piss poor negotiating position and he still comes away with 90% of what he, you and we wanted?  Let’s run down the list.

What we got that we wanted

Middle Class tax cuts

UI extended not for 3 months which is the norm, but for 13

Refundable tax credits are extended

Business Expensing (This is something the WH wanted)

Things we didn’t get

Obviously the upper bracket cuts, but here The Republican didn’t get exactly what they wanted either, permanence.

Estate Taxes. Again not what we wanted, but not what the Republicans wanted either which was for them to continue as they are now, zero.

( Ezra Klein has a good run down here: http://voices.washingtonpost.c… )

The thing we can question, whether it is a good idea or not, the 2% reduction in payroll taxes instead of extending the make work pay tax credit. Some are claiming this is a backdoor into gutting Social Security. Others are saying it will help job creation over the short term.  I think the latter is true, but unless we are careful the former could easily be true, as well.

So all in all if this is piss poor negotiating when you are in the weaker position. I’ll take it.

Now I have heard the arguments that no deal at all should have been made the whole damn thing should have been allowed to sunset. Taxes on everybody should have gone up. One it would show that we are serious about the deficit, not the Republicans. Two, we would have sent a clear message to the Republicans that you ain’t going to  push us around anymore! Well OK at whose expense do we send these messages? At the expense of the unemployed and the middle class and probably in the long  the Democrats in Congress and the President, as well. The Republicans would have pounded how the Democrats raised taxes on all households at time when most can ill afford to see a tax increase. And come the ’12 elections the economy would probably be still very weak and the Republicans would have a very clear and simple message to the voters. Not to mention we would have lost the economic stimulative parts of this deal.

Or there is the argument that he should have held out until the last possible moment before making a deal. The Republicans would have caved. Seriously? What is their incentive to cave. They think if everything expires they have got a winning campaign message. They get their wish Obama is one term, they take back the WH and probably the Senate. So  in two years they get to get their tax cuts back. So what if there is some suffering in order to achieve what we all know is their ultimate goal. And in the meantime DADT? Nope START? Nope, Dream? Nope (Dream is probably a nope anyway but that is another story) and the unemployed? Nope.

Finally, I have read by many that by extending the upper brackets for two years that they are going to end up being permanent. Well my message to Dems in Congress. Start working now to  insure that it doesn’t happen. Don’t wait again until the eleventh hour. Don’t all of a sudden get cold feet before the election and think you can deal with it after. Do your damn job so the President doesn’t have step in and do it for you.

So there you have it. One man’s opinion based on what he has observed. Have at me.


36 comments

  1. HappyinVT

    You can also add to your list the closing of Gitmo which will likely not happen any time soon because the House has voted to ban suspects from being brought into the US for trial.  And, to top it off, the provision was drafted by Democrats.

    One thing that will stand out for me for a very long time, and I think speaks to the relationship between Congress and the President, is when Obama had his presser before the summer recess in 2009 when the healthcare debate was heating up.  He asked that Congress get something passed before they all left town.  Harry Reid promptly said that likely wouldn’t happen.  And remember Reid very early into the Democratic president’s administration felt the need to tell the press that he “didn’t work for the president.”

    Lastly, while I do admire Sen. Sanders for standing up last week on the tax cuts, as someone else mentioned, where was he in the last two years?

  2. creamer

    Wich is apparently helping to rally the Tea Party. Some Republicans apparently would have been more than happy to wait until the next congress to negotiate a tax deal.(DeMint).

     I try not to be to hard on theis congress because they really got a lot done, but they have no one but themselves to blame for becoming timid this fall.( as this diary states so well.)

     My biggest concern is this becoming the campaign theme for 2012. Its important that the White House put some major reforms on the table this year, if they wait too long to have that discussion we will allow GOPers to set the theme.  

  3. HappyinVT

    the overall theme of the diary I’m going to slap it in a comment here.

    Sen. Snowe has, for the moment, said she will vote for a stand-alone DADT bill one of which has passed the House.  Might we see a repeal this year after all?

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