In case you don’t know, spelunking is the exploration of caves, and Obama appears to be exploring a huge cave on tax cuts. One could not ask for a finer gift from the Republican Party than this issue. Majorities of Democratic, Independent, and even Republican voters oppose busting the budget to give a tax cut to the top 2%. Yet Republicans are holding hostage the tax cut for 98% of us, unless the tax cut for the rich is included. That will cost $40 billion in 2011 alone, $40 billion that could be used for education, infrastructure, small business tax credits for hiring, or other things we desperately need. We now have our last majority in both houses of Congress that we will have before 2013, if then. This is our best opportunity. And if we can’t get a tax cut for the 98% through the lame duck Senate, Republicans will be be blamed. I’m disabled. Everything is going up, except my income. Not getting this tax cut would cause my federal income taxes to increase 50%, so I need that tax cut. But I would prefer to see Republicans block my tax cut than see Obama cave-in on this issue.
Sorry folks, there’s nothing ambiguous about this: agreeing to the Republican tax cut plan without putting up a fight would pretty much be the textbook definition of caving.
As everybody knows, President Obama’s tax cut proposal would permanently extend middle-income tax cuts but would allow upper-income tax cuts to expire. Everybody would get a tax cut under the Obama plan, but income above $250,000 would return to Clinton-era rates.
Republicans oppose the Obama plan — they want to extend upper-income tax cuts in addition to the middle-income tax cuts. Moreover — and this is crucial for them — Republicans want both tax cuts to remain linked, so that whether they are extended permanently or temporarily, they are not treated as separate tax cuts, otherwise known as decoupling. Republicans know that decoupling the tax cuts would mean the upper-income tax cuts would eventually be phased out because they would not be able to hold middle-income tax cuts hostage, in the process losing their leverage to continue the upper-income tax cuts.
As Greg Sargent points out, any plan that both extends the upper-income tax cuts and fails to decouple them from the middle-income tax cuts represents a clear Republican victory. The Obama administration is now trying to define victory as being any plan that (a) extends middle-income tax cuts and (b) doesn’t include a permanent extension of upper-income tax cuts. Implicit in this is the notion that they will accept a temporary extension of both tax cuts without decoupling… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Daily Kos>
Keith Olbermann and pollster, Sam Greenburg confirm this:
Obama’s earlier position is crystal clear. It was a campaign promise in 2008. Last month, I heard him say it in person when he visited Portland. If Republicans block tax cuts for the 98%, a wage earner with an income of $50,000 per year will pay nearly $2000 more per year in taxes. A fat cat earing $1,000,000 per year will pay $40,000 more per year than they would under the Democratic plan. He should dare them to earn all the anger that will bring. In my opinion, Obama’s political future depends upon him drawing lines in the sand and holding firm, not spelunking. What better place could there be to draw a line?
Breaking update: The White House denies the original story and claim they are firm on the issue.
28 Responses to “Obama Goes Spelunking”
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I think the left should bring it up, decoupled for a vote up or down and then sit on their hands allowing the pork barrel bush cuts (which were originally put in place to return the Clinton surplus to people) expire. Legislate that use all of that “new” money for nothing but debt reduction (nationally we are only making minimum payments on our credit debt) and let the public know that their taxes are higher because the Republicans wrote the law so the cuts would expire after a decade. Blame them for their trifling with peoples wallets, they after all wrote the law and passed it when they had the power.
Except I am beginning to believe that by January the right center and radical right will control all three branches of government just as they have pretty much for 18 of the last 26 years.
Mark, you may be right, but there’s nore to this that I knew.
I hope you’ll read Sarah Jones post – it was an eye opener for me. http://www.politicususa.com/en/obama-screwed-you
🙂
Welcome, Jean. 🙂
It was indeed. By the time I learned of it, it was blown out of proportion.
Here’s the CNN story: Obama says he’s not caving on tax cuts (text and video of speech)
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/12/obama.tax.cuts/index.html?hpt=T1
But this brings up another issue. I’ve been as guilty as everyone else in jumping on the bandwagon to criticize Obama over something that seemingly wasn’t true. I even put up that petition from Bold Progress. I don’t know if Gibbs has hoofing mouth disease or what, but I sure would like to find a way to “check it out” before I jump. I also think outfits like Bold Progress and Move On should be a little more careful before sending out petitions until they know absolutely for sure that the situation is as they say it is.
Excellent article, Leslie. Thanks. See my comment below.
Leslie, it’s hoof and mouth disease and usually kid get it. Why the get it when they don’t have hooves is anyone’s guess. 😉
LOL!
Great article! 😆
Thanks!
TC, I’m guilty of blowing a gasket on this tax issue. I don’t trust the White House anymore and if they cave after he was so adamant on the tax cut issue in the campaign and even throughout the last year, I’m sorry but it could really affect my vote if another democrat arises for 2012. Enough is enough, I’m so tired of the caving.
Me too, Sue. See my comment below.
I agree 100%. Obama has demonstrated repeatedly that he will say anything to get us to support him, but when it comes time to act on our behalf he takes his cues from the Republicans. I have also had enough, and while I hate the fact that the Republicans have taken the House, I cannot care what effect is has on Obama. He needs to step aside and make room for a real Democrat to run in 2012.
Either that or clean up his act, big time.
Leslie we posted a comment at the same time. I’ll read your link, thanks!
I was going to mention that Obama has denied Axelrod’s statement, or at least says he misinterpreted. Maybe it had something to do with the thousands of us who signed the petitions. I’m sure more than one petition to Obama on this issue were sent.
You may well be right, Marva. See my comment below.
One of two things happened: Axelrod acted without authority, or it was a trial balloon to test what support the Democrats managed to retain after donating the House to the GOP with their terrible performance. My money is on the latter.
That is certainly possible.
Everyone, here’s how I understand it.
Obama had said that his priority was to permanently extend the cut for the 98% and allow the cut for the 2% to expire.
The White House later said that they were open to negotiation to permanently extend the cut for the 98% and temporarily extend the cut for the 2%.
Then Axelrod said they were open to anything that would preserve the cut for the 98% on 1/1 and that did not permanently extend the cut for the 2%. If Congress were to temporarily extend both, leaving them coupled, that would meet Axelrod’s parameters. That’s what led to this brouhaha.
Now Obama has denied caving-in, but he did not specifically state what his stance will be, so there are three distinct possibilities.
1) Axelrod misspoke, for whatever reason, making this a tempest in a coffee pot. [zero TEA zone here]
2) Obama intends to negotiate a permanent extension for the 98% and a temporary extension for the 2%. Republicans say they will not agree to this because it decouples the two, so why bother? We need the $40 billion for 2011 anyway.
3) Obama intends to stand fast.
Time will tell.
I see this dust up as a good thing. If nothing else, it serves as a warning shot across Obama’s bow that Main Street is sick and tired of bending over and grabbing our ankles.
I’m sorry to say that Obama is oblivious to our pain. He will cave hard, and millionaires across America will heave a sigh of relief.
TC if you read Obamas words very carefully it seems to me he might be leaning towards extending the tax cuts for the wealthy for 1 or 2 years. He is choosing his words very carefully as to not come across as changing his mind later on. The way he said PERMANENTLY speaks volumes. I see a cave at the end of the tunnel.
That would be better than leaving the linked, but it would still be caving-in. Plus the Republicans are not likely to agree to decoupling.
If he extends the 2%’ers tax cuts for 1-2 years – they’ll be there forever adding mountains to the deficit and he knows that;
The Democrats need to make maximum use of the upcoming lame duck session. Top priority should be ending the millionaires’ tax cut while extending the tax cuts for everyone else. The election is over. What are the lame duck Democrats afraid of, that they’ll get voted out?
Another interesting poll in yesterday’s news was that a majority of voters does NOT want “Obamacare” repealed or scaled back in any way. So, what was that “mandate” the Republicans keep blubbering about?
You forget, Tom Harper, that Rick Santelli defined “real Americans” as those who are spending their days tending to their investment portfolios. They are the source of the mandate that the GOP claims. The rest of us mean nothing, and are heeded even less.
I was really encouraged when I read the headline to this post, Not the issue itself which probably was nothing more than someone trying for a scoop, but rather the sense that people were beginning to tire of partisan support for Crony Capitalism – it was wrong with Bush in the WH but with a Democrat acting on behalf of corporate contributors – perfectly acceptable.
Reading thru the comments I see everyone is essentially back to the Democratic party line.
A little bit of feigned anger, little bit of mugging for the camera to show you mean it this time, then a commercial break and back to grabbing your ankles for the Democrats and Obama.
You guys are like watching the WWF. Sorry to be an asshole but it’s true.
Oso, my friend, you are. I never said I did not think Obama would cave in. I merely updated my article to make it current. That is not party line at all. If you read today’s #2 piece, I confirmed that I do think Obama will cave. That said, the only progressives with any chance to be elected at the national level are Democrats, almost without exception. I have two progressive Democrats that represent me, and one liberal. Are you suggesting I should abandon them for a third party candidate?