In any event, the White House and the Democratic congressional leadership made a terrible political mistake by avoiding a fight with the Republicans on this issue before the election, when it could have clearly demonstrated the hypocrisy of the GOP's constant harping about deficits, as well as their most critical concern: the "plight" of the poor rich people.
This is just wrong.
Remember this TPM?
And remember this gem from Senate Democrats?
A senior Senate Democratic aide told TPM today there won't be a vote on extending the Bush tax cuts in the upper chamber before the November election, a blow to party leaders and President Obama who believed this would have been a winning issue.
It's also a signal that the House won't take action -- though nothing has been decided for certain, since leaders there have said all along they are waiting for the Senate.
"Absent a stunning turn of events, we're not going to do tax cuts before the election," the aide told TPM.
The aide said it's already a winning message without a vote since Obama and Democrats have framed the debate as the Republicans being for the rich and Democrats wanting to help the middle class. Others have made similar arguments, but several lawmakers have said they think a vote is the only way to score a political victory. The senior aide doesn't think so.
"We have a winning message now, why muddy it up with a failed vote, because, of course, Republicans are going to block everything," the aide said.
And then the House followed suite...
The Senate's decision not to address the Bush tax cuts until after the election is the strongest indication yet that the game is over. After a House Democratic caucus meeting this morning -- but before the news broke on the Senate side -- key legislators were mum, and aides pessimistic, that the House will do what Speaker Pelosi wants to do: force a vote on tax legislation that will put Republicans on the record backing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Pelosi herself had earlier canceled a scheduled press conference, another sign that her attempt to rally the caucus was coming up short. With House Democratic leaders still insisting that they will follow the Senate's lead, it seems more and more likely that they too will drop the tax cut issue until after the election.
Pelosi's effort to wrangle her caucus into voting on middle-income tax cuts before the election appears not have dislodged conservative and politically vulnerable Democrats who either wanted to extend all the Bush tax cuts, including for high-income earners, or to avoid any kind of risky vote s close to the elections.
In what would be a surprising twist, one member of the Democratic leadership team suggested Dems might pivot away from the argument over upper-income tax cuts and press ahead with a separate raft of cuts before adjourning.
So when I read snark about the President or people pissed off at Axelrod I just don't even know what to say: POTUS did what the Progressive base on DailyKos said they wanted. He went before the American people before the election, argued the progressive position, the polls supported his side, online a lot of progressives cheered him on and then Congress folded.
That's been the way for the last two years, frankly.
And then yesterday as several diaries showed HuffPost blew up a story IMO that was progressive bait to beat up on the White House. Something that the President himself had to address...
President Obama said today his top priority is to extend the George W. Bush tax cuts for middle class Americans, and he will talk with Republicans next week about what to do with the tax rates for wealthier Americans.
"I continue to believe that extending permanently the upper-income tax cuts would be a mistake and that we can't afford it," Obama told reporters at the G-20 summit in Seoul, South Korea. "And my hope is, is that somewhere in between there we can find some sort of solution."
He added: "I'm not going to negotiate here in Seoul. My job is to negotiate back in Washington with Republican and Democratic leaders."
I just want to know if the next two years we're going to have to deal with more headlines like this topping Google News:Liberals Fear Obama Is Caving on Their Agenda
Halfway through his four-year term, President Obama faces a liberal constituency that is disappointed about the lack of progress on their core issues and quick to jump to negative conclusions about his motives.
That reality was on full display Thursday as liberal activists immediately seized on comments by David Axelrod, the president’s top political adviser, who had seemed to suggest the president’s willingness to concede the upcoming tax fight with Republicans.
The last two years the liberals online have been calling on Obama to do x, y, or z and if he doesn't he sucks. The attacks have been relentless and came from the transition onwards. And I call them attacks, not holding him accountable. You hold politicians accountable at the ballot box; you make them do things by PERSUASION and creating political space to get shit done. No one here is working on persuading Republicans to bend; they're angry at blue dogs for wanting conservative cover.
I don't think people realize, not just at Daily Kos but TPM or all the liberal institutional blogs, what it means in the MSM when we attack the President day in and out. He has a fight on his left and right all the time and that allows him to be perceived as weak.
This happened in the primaries and election; but there were actually votes to show the BS involved. The White House communication team, whatever it's issues, are compounded by the fact that liberals constantly take the bait.
The next two years are going to suck enough; we don't need to keep pissing inside the tent. EVEN when someone on our side fucks up royally, IMO. Just clean it up, stay united, and move forward.