While Bernie Sanders is filibustering the tax cut deal on the Senate floor as I write,the Democrats added two sweeteners--ethanol subsidies and cash grants for renewable energy projects. By the end,this is going to look like a Christmas Tree, which will superpass the stimulus package.
The New York Times' editorial was on the mark today,blasting the Senate for falling to repeal DADT and the Republicans blocking medical assistance to the 9/11 First Responders. And I thought 9/11 was a Republican holiday. I guess they didn't want to share ownership with people who had to clean up the mess. That's beginning to sound all to familiar.
The roller-coaster end to DADT has made me dizzy. The Advocate, the gay paper, had a splendid statement by President Obama criticizing the Senate vote and pledging to get DADT repealed. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins promise to bring up the repeal as a stand alone bill at the end of the Lame Duck Session. But now, DADT is no longer a civil rights or moral issue, it's a political nuisance. Bob Gates wrote in today's Washington Post that if Congress doesn't repeal then he's at the mercy of the courts and this will create a situation where the Pentagon will be played like a yo-yo. If this session of Congress does not repeal, then this closes Congress off as the vehicle for its justified demise. For everyone's sanity, President Obama will have to end it by executive order and stay all discharges of gay personnel. But an executive order will disappoint because there will be an agreed upon timeline that the Pentagon must implement the order.
One interesting note--the father of DADT--former Senator Sam Nunn came out yesterday and said it was time for it to be repealed.
It's fascinating to watch the Guardians of National Security--the Republican Party--delay the Defense Appropriations Bill--for the first time in 49 years. All because they want the tax cuts for the rich. Neat, huh. Aside from DADT, the Defense Appropriations Bill contains vital support for veterans' mental illness programs and the treatment of PTSD as well as a restructuring of the military's TRICARE health insurance system to cover families. The Obama Administration has been trying to upgrade medical services for military personnel suffering from PTSD for the past year and a half and the effort has floundered because of this delay in Defense. Remember under George W., the treatment for PTSD was each victim was given Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Life. I wish this was just a cruel joke but under W. PTSD sufferers were treated as the shell-shock victims of WWI.
Susan Collins finally ran out of excuses not to support the New Start Treaty. She asked for either President Bush to endorse it. President George H.W. Bush sent out a terse statement he backed the ratification. Condi Rice, finally came out of the closet (not that one), and openly supports ratification, making it every Republican Secretary of State for the last 5 Republican Presidents. Now both Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have openly supported the ratification of the treaty but Jim deMint is threatening to filibuster but no one knows why.
President Obama obviously was listening to me yesterday. He told NPR that he would be presenting proposals to reform the entire tax code to Congress next year. This was how I thought he would avoid the 2012 Rich Tax trap. He also met with Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson of the Catfood Commission yesterday and talked about what measures they suggested he would adopt. He has already put a freeze on government wages and looks like he may adopt the McColm Social Security measure of raising the cap on the FICA tax, which would instantly solve Social Security's problems for about a century.
The Pew Foundation has a new poll out that shows that Americans are deeply concerned about the national debt but when they asked what should be done Americans favor tax increases and cuts in programs but no one can agree on any. Well, only two--freezing government wages and raising the cap on the FICA tax. Beyond that, there is no agreement on anything. Andrew Sullivan believes this provides President Obama with an opportunity to nail the inconsistencies of the GOP to the wall by outlining his plan to reduce the national debt in the State of the Union Address.
I solved the national debt problem by taking the interactive survey at the New York Times. It was a wonderful exercise. I did it by 45% in program cuts and 55% in tax increases. And voila, I got it down gradually in a manageable way. I've heard from others that they did too. So if Times readers can solve the debt, anyone can.
Republicans are flabberghasted that Democrats are rebelling at President Obama over the tax deal. Charlie Krauthammer woke up to the scene by rightfully saying that Obama picked the Republicans' pocket and laid the ground for his re-election. But Ralph Nader says that Obama should be challenged politically from the Left. Remember when Nader ran in 2000, that really came out well.
I had enjoyed the comeback of progressives in the field of policy ideas. It's been a good four years of solid policy proposals. But now, they have gone into a funk over the tax deal and become self-referential again. I hope progressive snap out of it because conservatives are in the death spiral of epistemic closure. We can't afford it to happen to the Left.
Meanwhile, the new Republican House has been hiring lobbyists like mad for key staff positions. Old Swizzle Stick Boehner has hired key lobbyists against the healthcare reform for his staff. Teabaggers have hired former employees of Koch Industries. The teabaggers in all their populism marched over to K Street on promises their campaign debts would be retired by corporations. Maybe the Democrats should wake up and see that the next two weeks are the last hurrah for now of any progressive change. Then the Battle Royale will begin and President Obama will have moved on to the Middle East Peace Talks and Afghanistan.
Showing posts with label Obama Tax Deal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama Tax Deal. Show all posts
Friday, December 10, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Morning in America
The American taxpayers made a profit over $25 billion from the Citibank stock sale, showing our socialist President still knows how to make money. By the way, last year he actually cut the budget deficit by the largest amount in American history.
So what gives with the tax deal. Pat Buchanan and Dick Morris are trumpeting the tax cuts for the rich as a total Republican victory. But there is silence from all the tweeting GOP congressmen. Literally no one has commented on it.Right-wingers are posting their anger at the RINOs for bowing to the socialist President.For their part, the Left is in an uproar. The Democratic Underground and DailyKos had a field day of people arguing that progressives must primary President Obama and testimonies from former Obama campaign aides saying they are fed up with him. Bill Maher calls him a "wuss", Ed Schultz has thrown in the towel and former Republican Young Turk Cenk says that the President has been rolled. Democratic congressman Ellison told Ed Shultz he won't be used to criticize the President because the problem was the Republicans and the President fought for the poor. Bernie Sanders says he will filibuster the Senate agreement and outgoing Republican Senator George Voinovich said he will vote against extending any of the Bush era tax cuts. The House Democrats apparently left the White House yesterday angry as hell.
If you want a sense of where President Obama is coming from, you should listen to his speech yesterday in North Carolina where he outlined at length where he wants America to go in order to economically compete in the future. It is clear that his eyes are on a larger prize than whether rich people get tax cuts. He outlined the disadvantages the United States finds itself in with regard to education, infrastructure, alternative energy supplies and computer science. Buried beneath the tax cut deal was the President of the United States calling on the nation to step up to this generation's "Sputnik Moment". If you take this speech with his MIT speech, you will get a clearer idea of where the President is coming from and going to--and it's not liberal, conservative or even moderate.
The great Monday morning strategists in D.C. think Obama should have the tax cuts extend only a year so he can make it an issue in 2012 and force a vote then. Others believe that he should have extracted more from the Republicans. Still others thought he should have stood firm and let all the tax cuts go down on principle. Katherine Vander Heuval thinks Obama has just made himself a one-term President because his base now will abandon him. Paul Krugman says that the President comes off as weak.
The other day I said I liked how Obama made decisions and I warned it did make him look weak. But let' examine the deal. He extracted 13 more months of unemployment insurance from the Republicans, the payroll tax holiday, which will benefit all those earning less than $100,000,the child tax credit, the student tax credit, the business tax credits, which the GOP really did oppose, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Yes, the rich get their Christmas gift and yes these all increase the deficit. But notice that the Republicans suddenly forgot about the deficit when the rich got their goodies.
In short, as Ezra Klein pointed out, forestalling the deficit emphasis for a few months, the Obama Administration actually came out of this deal with an ugly, maybe not so efficient stimulus package, which the Republicans swore they were against. What this lays the framework for is the infrastructure debate in the next Congress. And Congressman Ellison was right--the President's part of the bargain helps the poor and the unemployed in this country.
Now what I want to know is what ideas do the Republicans have any more. They got their way with the tax cuts for the rich but they virtually have run out of ideas. They've run the whole Just Say No strategy. There's nothing left. In looking at the prospects of the next Congress, the Obama Administration knew the tax deal was the last gasp for any stimulus--ugly or not. So they went ugly. I loved my Lakers alot growing up but the Celtics always beat them going ugly.
We are now down to the remaining items of the Lameduck session. The New Start Treaty, which I gather was an ancillary topic in the tax discussions, the Dream Act and DADT. Harry Reid who owes his re-election to Hispanics wants to bring up the Dream Act before the Defense Appropriations. It's hard to remember that there was wide bipartisan aupport for the Dream Act. John McCain was even one of its cosponsors. Not anymore. I think it is dead. The gay military personnel believe the New Start Treaty can wait until the next Congress so that DADT can be repealed . I disagree. If the New Start Treaty isn't approved now, the whole committee process has to start again with the new Congress. And now Mitt Romney has penned an Op-Ed opposing the New Start treaty,going against the collective wisdom of the last five Republican Presidents. The votes are almost there for the New Start Treaty. If not now, it would not be approved for the rest of Obama's first term.
On DADT, Mitch McConnell is basically lying--no surprise--about the time it takes to pass the Defense Appropriations Act. It has already been debated five times already. Democratic aides have researched his assertions that it needs about two weeks to pass. Almost every defense appropriations bill over the last five Administrations has taken five days and even less. McConnell then claims that this bill is contentious because it allows for military health care to pay for abortions. Give me a break. But Bob Gates told the soldiers yesterday he was very pessimistic about DADT being repealed by this Congress and he feels the courts will make them. Jolting Joe Lieberman shocked everyone yesterday by saying that he thinks the Senate should stay in session past Christmas to repeal DADT. Here it really does come down to President Obama and Hapless Harry Reid. They really shouldn't have the issue hung up by the incredibly shrinking John McCain.
The Prop 8 trial has started and the first part of the proceedings was a wangle about whether the defendents had standing. The government of California refused to defend the case and the question is whether proponents of a ballot measure actually have the legal weight to argue in its defense. One other issue was whether a clerk from Imperial County, made famous by the David Lynch movie "Inland Empire",is a state or local official and whether Imperial County has any stake in the decision. The second half of the proceedings was taken up with the three judge panel asking pretty sharp questions of the anti-gay lawyer.
I think the San Francisco Chronicle article this morning is on the right track. The judges will issue a narrow decision--one that might not take it to the Supreme Court. Their questions appear to be zeroing in on a Colorado ruling that took rights away from gays, which courts later overruled. In the Prop.8 case, you have some gays that are married in California, some not allowed to, and this creates different classes of people with and without rights. I think the Court will overrule Prop 8, ratify Vaughn Walker's opinion but not embrace its full meaning. In any event, gays will be allowed to marry at the end of the day.
I am betting now on DOMA being the case that makes it to the Supreme Court on gay rights. That's too bad because I think Ted Olson and david Boies have been beyond superb.
Meanwhile in the world of Wikileaks, Julian Assange is in prison in the UK and denied bail. According to Wikileaks spokespeople, if Assange was jailed, the files on BP, Bank of America and Gitmo will be released. If actually imprisoned or killed, the insurance file will be dumped on the world stage.
So what gives with the tax deal. Pat Buchanan and Dick Morris are trumpeting the tax cuts for the rich as a total Republican victory. But there is silence from all the tweeting GOP congressmen. Literally no one has commented on it.Right-wingers are posting their anger at the RINOs for bowing to the socialist President.For their part, the Left is in an uproar. The Democratic Underground and DailyKos had a field day of people arguing that progressives must primary President Obama and testimonies from former Obama campaign aides saying they are fed up with him. Bill Maher calls him a "wuss", Ed Schultz has thrown in the towel and former Republican Young Turk Cenk says that the President has been rolled. Democratic congressman Ellison told Ed Shultz he won't be used to criticize the President because the problem was the Republicans and the President fought for the poor. Bernie Sanders says he will filibuster the Senate agreement and outgoing Republican Senator George Voinovich said he will vote against extending any of the Bush era tax cuts. The House Democrats apparently left the White House yesterday angry as hell.
If you want a sense of where President Obama is coming from, you should listen to his speech yesterday in North Carolina where he outlined at length where he wants America to go in order to economically compete in the future. It is clear that his eyes are on a larger prize than whether rich people get tax cuts. He outlined the disadvantages the United States finds itself in with regard to education, infrastructure, alternative energy supplies and computer science. Buried beneath the tax cut deal was the President of the United States calling on the nation to step up to this generation's "Sputnik Moment". If you take this speech with his MIT speech, you will get a clearer idea of where the President is coming from and going to--and it's not liberal, conservative or even moderate.
The great Monday morning strategists in D.C. think Obama should have the tax cuts extend only a year so he can make it an issue in 2012 and force a vote then. Others believe that he should have extracted more from the Republicans. Still others thought he should have stood firm and let all the tax cuts go down on principle. Katherine Vander Heuval thinks Obama has just made himself a one-term President because his base now will abandon him. Paul Krugman says that the President comes off as weak.
The other day I said I liked how Obama made decisions and I warned it did make him look weak. But let' examine the deal. He extracted 13 more months of unemployment insurance from the Republicans, the payroll tax holiday, which will benefit all those earning less than $100,000,the child tax credit, the student tax credit, the business tax credits, which the GOP really did oppose, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Yes, the rich get their Christmas gift and yes these all increase the deficit. But notice that the Republicans suddenly forgot about the deficit when the rich got their goodies.
In short, as Ezra Klein pointed out, forestalling the deficit emphasis for a few months, the Obama Administration actually came out of this deal with an ugly, maybe not so efficient stimulus package, which the Republicans swore they were against. What this lays the framework for is the infrastructure debate in the next Congress. And Congressman Ellison was right--the President's part of the bargain helps the poor and the unemployed in this country.
Now what I want to know is what ideas do the Republicans have any more. They got their way with the tax cuts for the rich but they virtually have run out of ideas. They've run the whole Just Say No strategy. There's nothing left. In looking at the prospects of the next Congress, the Obama Administration knew the tax deal was the last gasp for any stimulus--ugly or not. So they went ugly. I loved my Lakers alot growing up but the Celtics always beat them going ugly.
We are now down to the remaining items of the Lameduck session. The New Start Treaty, which I gather was an ancillary topic in the tax discussions, the Dream Act and DADT. Harry Reid who owes his re-election to Hispanics wants to bring up the Dream Act before the Defense Appropriations. It's hard to remember that there was wide bipartisan aupport for the Dream Act. John McCain was even one of its cosponsors. Not anymore. I think it is dead. The gay military personnel believe the New Start Treaty can wait until the next Congress so that DADT can be repealed . I disagree. If the New Start Treaty isn't approved now, the whole committee process has to start again with the new Congress. And now Mitt Romney has penned an Op-Ed opposing the New Start treaty,going against the collective wisdom of the last five Republican Presidents. The votes are almost there for the New Start Treaty. If not now, it would not be approved for the rest of Obama's first term.
On DADT, Mitch McConnell is basically lying--no surprise--about the time it takes to pass the Defense Appropriations Act. It has already been debated five times already. Democratic aides have researched his assertions that it needs about two weeks to pass. Almost every defense appropriations bill over the last five Administrations has taken five days and even less. McConnell then claims that this bill is contentious because it allows for military health care to pay for abortions. Give me a break. But Bob Gates told the soldiers yesterday he was very pessimistic about DADT being repealed by this Congress and he feels the courts will make them. Jolting Joe Lieberman shocked everyone yesterday by saying that he thinks the Senate should stay in session past Christmas to repeal DADT. Here it really does come down to President Obama and Hapless Harry Reid. They really shouldn't have the issue hung up by the incredibly shrinking John McCain.
The Prop 8 trial has started and the first part of the proceedings was a wangle about whether the defendents had standing. The government of California refused to defend the case and the question is whether proponents of a ballot measure actually have the legal weight to argue in its defense. One other issue was whether a clerk from Imperial County, made famous by the David Lynch movie "Inland Empire",is a state or local official and whether Imperial County has any stake in the decision. The second half of the proceedings was taken up with the three judge panel asking pretty sharp questions of the anti-gay lawyer.
I think the San Francisco Chronicle article this morning is on the right track. The judges will issue a narrow decision--one that might not take it to the Supreme Court. Their questions appear to be zeroing in on a Colorado ruling that took rights away from gays, which courts later overruled. In the Prop.8 case, you have some gays that are married in California, some not allowed to, and this creates different classes of people with and without rights. I think the Court will overrule Prop 8, ratify Vaughn Walker's opinion but not embrace its full meaning. In any event, gays will be allowed to marry at the end of the day.
I am betting now on DOMA being the case that makes it to the Supreme Court on gay rights. That's too bad because I think Ted Olson and david Boies have been beyond superb.
Meanwhile in the world of Wikileaks, Julian Assange is in prison in the UK and denied bail. According to Wikileaks spokespeople, if Assange was jailed, the files on BP, Bank of America and Gitmo will be released. If actually imprisoned or killed, the insurance file will be dumped on the world stage.
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