Actually, it's a pretty good deal...

[Babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/barac..._cuts_bush

Actually, it's a pretty good deal...
By Steve Kornacki

snip//

But look a little closer and you'll find good reason to doubt that Obama will face the same intraparty blowback. Sure, progressive activists are up in arms -- as they were when Obama compromised on the stimulus last year, and on healthcare, and at countless other points in his presidency. Their feelings are genuine, but it's also worth remembering that they're doing their job -- using their voices to push a president from their party toward their policy goals. And it's also worth remembering that there's a clear disconnect between the loudest voices on left -- the ones that have been branding Obama a sell-0ut -- and rank-and-file Democratic voters, who still approve of the president's job performance at a rate of about 80 percent. Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan weren't doing that well with their own bases at this same point in their presidencies.

Democrats, by and large, believe that Obama has been operating in good faith. This is different from the intense skepticism that Bush already faced from the GOP base, which remembered him as the moderate who blasted Reaganomics as "voodoo economics" in his 1980 presidential campaign, when he made his deal with the Democrats. In raising taxes in '90, Bush was confirming what the right had long suspected about him. Obama, though, has more wiggle room with his party's voters. Which is why the concessions that he won from the GOP are so important. As part of the deal, expiring unemployment benefits for millions of Americans will be extended for 13 months. Just as importantly, there is now a real prospect that the Senate will act on repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and ratification of the START treaty before this month's lame duck session ends. Is extending tax cuts for the richest Americans (and blowing another hole in the deficit in the process) a steep price to pay for all of this? Absolutely. But that's politics: Obama took the best deal he could possibly get. And he got enough out of it that Democratic voters, who still like him enormously, can rationalize their way to supporting it (or at least not feeling betrayed by it) -- no matter how much grief Obama takes from liberal activists and commentators.

There's also a longer term calculation at work. Note that the deal also includes a reduction in the Social Security payroll tax and an expansion of the earned income tax credit and the college tuition tax credit. This is on top of the extension in unemployment benefits. These measures have one thing in common: They are stimulative in nature. (So, for that matter, is the fact that middle class Americans won't face a tax hike -- something that would have happened had Obama balked at the deal and played a long-term game of chicken with the GOP). Granted, this isn't the type of stimulus that, by itself, will restore the economy to good health, but it will help -- and it's more than Obama was on course to get from the GOP. The compromise, in other words, gives Obama a chance to take further action to boost the economy and bring unemployment down -- and the more he can do that, the better his chances (and his party's chances) will be in 2012.

snip//

Some of the most vocal liberals will argue that Obama should have refused this deal, dared the GOP to let all the tax cuts (an unemployment benefits for millions of Americans) expire, and used his bully-pulpit to convince Americans that Republicans did it all in the name of protecting millionaires and billionaires from a tax hike. This wouldn't have worked, though. As the 2010 midterms demonstrated (hardly for the first time), when the economy is stalled, voters look for reasons to blame the man in charge -- whether it's logical or not. Obama is in no position to win a P.R. battle with the GOP right now. That's just reality, and on Monday, he dealt with reality and came away with the best compromise he could get.

[There Is No Spoon]

Yah, when I read the details I realized that Obama rolled a lot of important agenda items into this that we may not have gotten at all if they weren't accomplished in the lame duck session, I thought "not bad".

It's surprising what Republicans are willing to give up to give their "base" a 2 year bonus.

[spazito]

(12-07-2010 08:34 AM)There Is No Spoon Wrote:  Yah, when I read the details I realized that Obama rolled a lot of important agenda items into this that we may not have gotten at all if they weren't accomplished in the lame duck session, I thought "not bad".

It's surprising what Republicans are willing to give up to give their "base" a 2 year bonus.

I agree, there is a lot of 'gain' in the agreement for the majority of the public, more than I had expected upon first hearing about the negotiations. I think it is a good deal even with the trade-off to the repubs on the 2 year extension of the top tax cut.

[CraigGrant]

(12-07-2010 05:59 AM)Babylonsister Wrote:  http://www.salon.com/news/politics/barac..._cuts_bush

Actually, it's a pretty good deal...
By Steve Kornacki

snip//

But look a little closer and you'll find good reason to doubt that Obama will face the same intraparty blowback. Sure, progressive activists are up in arms -- as they were when Obama compromised on the stimulus last year, and on healthcare, and at countless other points in his presidency. Their feelings are genuine, but it's also worth remembering that they're doing their job -- using their voices to push a president from their party toward their policy goals. And it's also worth remembering that there's a clear disconnect between the loudest voices on left -- the ones that have been branding Obama a sell-0ut -- and rank-and-file Democratic voters, who still approve of the president's job performance at a rate of about 80 percent. Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan weren't doing that well with their own bases at this same point in their presidencies.

Democrats, by and large, believe that Obama has been operating in good faith. This is different from the intense skepticism that Bush already faced from the GOP base, which remembered him as the moderate who blasted Reaganomics as "voodoo economics" in his 1980 presidential campaign, when he made his deal with the Democrats. In raising taxes in '90, Bush was confirming what the right had long suspected about him. Obama, though, has more wiggle room with his party's voters. Which is why the concessions that he won from the GOP are so important. As part of the deal, expiring unemployment benefits for millions of Americans will be extended for 13 months. Just as importantly, there is now a real prospect that the Senate will act on repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and ratification of the START treaty before this month's lame duck session ends. Is extending tax cuts for the richest Americans (and blowing another hole in the deficit in the process) a steep price to pay for all of this? Absolutely. But that's politics: Obama took the best deal he could possibly get. And he got enough out of it that Democratic voters, who still like him enormously, can rationalize their way to supporting it (or at least not feeling betrayed by it) -- no matter how much grief Obama takes from liberal activists and commentators.

There's also a longer term calculation at work. Note that the deal also includes a reduction in the Social Security payroll tax and an expansion of the earned income tax credit and the college tuition tax credit. This is on top of the extension in unemployment benefits. These measures have one thing in common: They are stimulative in nature. (So, for that matter, is the fact that middle class Americans won't face a tax hike -- something that would have happened had Obama balked at the deal and played a long-term game of chicken with the GOP). Granted, this isn't the type of stimulus that, by itself, will restore the economy to good health, but it will help -- and it's more than Obama was on course to get from the GOP. The compromise, in other words, gives Obama a chance to take further action to boost the economy and bring unemployment down -- and the more he can do that, the better his chances (and his party's chances) will be in 2012.

snip//

Some of the most vocal liberals will argue that Obama should have refused this deal, dared the GOP to let all the tax cuts (an unemployment benefits for millions of Americans) expire, and used his bully-pulpit to convince Americans that Republicans did it all in the name of protecting millionaires and billionaires from a tax hike. This wouldn't have worked, though. As the 2010 midterms demonstrated (hardly for the first time), when the economy is stalled, voters look for reasons to blame the man in charge -- whether it's logical or not. Obama is in no position to win a P.R. battle with the GOP right now. That's just reality, and on Monday, he dealt with reality and came away with the best compromise he could get.

Its a very good deal. When I saw the reaction I thought "shit he agreed to make the cuts permanent?".

Two years is perfect. It will be what the Presidential campaign will be run on. Idiot Republicans should have held out for three years.

Two years from now when the Republicans have backed themselves into a corner they will have no credibility on deficit reduction and will only be seen as stooges as for the super rich.

My criticism on this is not that Obama was too fast but that he was too slow. In October 2012 this will be seen as the smartest political deal in a decade. It forces the Republicans to lose their best issue - deficit reduction and we got a whole bunch of benefits for people who need it. What do you think the Tea Baggers are going to think in 2012 when the Republicans are trying to give tax cuts to the super rich THAT EXCEED THE STIMULUS. More fuel for the Republican Civil War.