Obama Won't Extend Bush Tax Cuts Again: Pledge To House Dems

[onehandle]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- In a meeting with House Democrats on Thursday, President Obama stressed that his administration would draw a firm line on taxes and revenues both in the deficit- and debt-reduction debates and in the buildup to the 2012 elections.

According to multiple meeting attendees, the president reiterated on several occasions that a deal to raise the country's debt ceiling would include revenue increases, even as Republican lawmakers insist that such a deal should be restricted to spending cuts and entitlement reforms.

"I've been very clear about revenues as a part of a balanced package, and I will continue to be," said Obama.

Underscoring his commitment, Obama noted taxes would be a defining area of contrast with Republicans on the campaign trail. He insisted that he would not compromise again on his position that the tax rates for the top earners be raised to pre-Bush levels.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/02/obama-pledges-no-bush-tax-cut-extension_n_870680.html

---

Ok...

[Maine_Nurse]

1. As demonstrated on multiple issues, his pledges are pretty meaningless.

[ProSense]

2. Well, he kept his pledge on

preserving middle-class tax cuts, repealing DADT, and withdrawing 100,000 troops from Iraq by summer 2010.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ProSense]

8. Well, that's one way

to pretend that preserving middle-class tax cuts, repealing DADT, and withdrawing 100,000 troops from Iraq by summer 2010 didn't happen: call them "talking points."

Rove would be proud!

[Lasher]

18. No, he didn't keep his campaign promise to withdraw soldiers from Iraq.

He broke that promise and I can prove it.

[bahrbearian]

44. Rove is proud , They got Bush a third term.

[Donnachaidh]

57. and a third war -- even the Chimp didn't get that done

The MIC is being fed by three shifts now, thanks to this administration. :eyes:

[SammyWinstonJack]

63. +100000!

[Arctic Dave]

10. DADT is only repelled on paper.

Obama can't ram anything through except bombing ME countries.

[Kelvin Mace]

25. DADT is still the law of the land

He preserved middle class tax cuts by caving on tax cuts for the rich. We are still hotly engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Pakistan, and pushing for war in Iran on the same type of evidence used to justify the illegal invasion of Iraq.

He caved on the public option, the stimulus package, Wall Street prosecutions, whistle blowers, and the Patriot Act (and is trying to expand it into a full blown police state law)

By my score card, Obama has failed to deliver on promises more times than delivered. He still has this bi-partisan fetish and is now giving ground (via his proxies) on SS, Medicare and Medicaid.

[kimsarah]

36. Agreed.

Let's keep checking back regularly to see how straight that "end tax cuts for the wealthy" line stays that he drew in the shifting sands. I'd be impressed if he put his foot down while wearing a pair of walking shoes, then visit Wisconsin to give his shoes a workout. This guy really is hard to defend.

[Pab Sungenis]

42. DADT is not repealed yet.

I'll give him the other two.

Of course, he had also pledged to end the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy, and caved on that.

He had pledged to give us a public option, and caved.

Let's wait and see what happens when push comes to shove.

[Tx4obama]

19. So, you think that the 135 Obama campaing promises that he has KEPT are meaningless?

135 Obama campaign promises kept/fulfilled: http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-kept/

[Kelvin Mace]

28. I look at the quality of the promises kept

the really, really important ones he has caved on. Even now, I here caving noises on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

DADT is still the law of the land, as is DOMA. He has done very little to back Elizabeth Warren, allowed Wall Street and insurance companies to dictate reform laws in the financial and health care laws that were passed.

And do I really have to get into expanding Bush polices on surveillance? The economy is tanking and he is till making deal to cut government spending which will only make things worse.

[kimsarah]

37. Does that scorecard

include every time he has caved?

[Tx4obama]

61. Yes.

There is a section on the Obameter at Politifact that tracks 'Promises Broken'
Here's the Promises Broken List: http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/

Politifact is tracking over 500+ Obama campaign promises.
The Obameter sections include: Promises Kept, Stalled, In the Works, Broken, Compromise.
Here's a link to the full scorecard: http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/

[No Elephants]

55. Oh, please, not that ridiculous list again.

[Tx4obama]

60. What the hell are you talking about?

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ (Politifact) does NOT put out ridiculous information.

The St. Petersburg Times is Pulitzer Prize winner.

If you have a complaint regarding any of the ratings on their Obameter http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/
you can email them with your comment and include a 'source/citation' and they will review the rating, if they have made a mistake they will correct it.

[RBInMaine]

64. Is it necessary to be both inaccurate and asshole-ish?

[customerserviceguy]

3. He may not have a choice

I'm afraid that he'll face a veto-proof majority of Rethugs and Blue Dogs in 2013. If the Rethugs nominate Caribou Barbie or Michelle Bachmann, many people will take that as a sign that the Repukes won't win the WH, and will vote for a GOP'er as a counterbalance to President Obama.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. "Any bill I sign must include a public option... "

:eyes:

[ProSense]

6. The bill did

expand Medicaid and include a waiver for single payer, which will provide funding for Vermont's program.

There's that.

[robinlynne]

7. Yes you were very clear. You signed that piece of crap. 5 months ago.

[Poll_Blind]

9. I don't trust the President.

I don't trust the President. It's a different kind of mistrust than what I had for Bush. I didn't trust Bush at all and if I did trust him, it was to always fuck everything up the worst. With Obama, sometimes he says things and he means them. Sometimes he says things and it's pretty obvious through his actions that he has no intention of backing those things up with action.

After 10 years of Bush, I need someone I can trust. Obama just throws a little too much bullshit around for my tastes. The whole "change we can believe in" was nice, but President Obama is not about change. So this burned-out supporter is left wondering when he's going to stick to his guns and when he never had the intention of following through in the first place.

All too often, when he does follow-through on some Left-leaning action, I'm left just as surprised as if he'd gone the other way.

PB

[slay]

12. +1

nor do i, i hate to say.

[Rageneau]

14. I concur. My problem with the Prez is one of 'trust'

I hate it that I can't feel wholeheartedly that my party leader has my best interests at heart; that he is willing to fight for me. With Obama, I feel that way from time to time, but because of numerous disappointments -- never ALL the time.

[LetTimmySmoke]

30. You're absolutely right.

The GOP is crazy and wrong on the issues, and Obama has to be re-elected for the necessity of the country. But that doesn't change the fact that Obama is a panderer, likes to try to please everyone, and is not very trustworthy.

[SoapBox]

15. You took the post right out of my mouth...

...what you said.

[0rganism]

33. at least W was predictable - you could always count on the worst from him

W didn't give a shit about anyone else, he had his supporters lined up in the bag, everyone else was fodder and got treated as such. It was easy enough to read his intentions and plan accordingly. He rewarded the loyalists and punished the opposition, very simple and easily understood.

With Obama, it's a lot harder to nail down. His rhetoric is in line with someone who actually cares about America, but his actions tend to undercut the expectations he builds up. I can't tell when he's going to play a strong hand, when he's going to cave immediately to the wishes of the GOP, or when he'll play along for a while and then fold after a week of bluffing, posturing, and feeding the pot. He talks like an FDR progressive but staffs his cabinet with the same brand of crony capitalists we got under W.

It's like he wandered into this immensely powerful extra-constitutional unitary executive set up by W's minions, and had no idea what to do with it. Was he expecting some other kind of presidency, maybe more along the lines of a PM?

I didn't trust W because he was fucking evil as hell and careless to boot.

I'm finding that I can't trust Obama because he's confusing, deceptive, and just maybe inept.

[shanti]

35. ITA

he's pulled the football away too many times for me to trust him either.

[kimsarah]

38. Excellent analogy

[slay]

11. Yeah well he said he wouldn't do it the first time too

Obama talks a big talk but that's all it is is talk. I'll believe it when I see it. Just like with Gitmo. Just like not raiding medical marijuana facilities. He wants to get elected and will say the same stuff he said in 2008 when he tricked a bunch of us into voting for him then.

[inwiththenew]

13. He won't extend tax cuts again*

*Unless of course it needs to be done in the spirit of bi-partisanship.

:sarcasm:

[JJW]

16. Of course not because....

they are no longer Bush tax cuts, they are Obama's.

Fool me once, shame on you Barack Obama.

[SHRED]

17. Talk is cheap

[Lasher]

20. That is most reassuring

[alc]

21. because he can't extend them

Congress can pass a law to extend them. Then he can sign or veto their law, but say it's "their" law that extended it and he has to go along with their will. Maybe he can even get the auto-signer machine to do the signing and claim he literally "had no hand" in the extension.

[sofa king]

62. Want to know how clever this President is?

The tax cuts are scheduled to expire in January, 2013. Congress usually goes on retreat and then into recess for about two weeks in mid-January. One Democratic Senator can place a hold on the bill so that it cannot pass until the day before Congress leaves.

If Congress is out of session for ten days or more (not including Sundays) and a bill remains unsigned by the President, then the bill is "pocket vetoed."

So there you go. President Obama has already arranged it so that he can kill any further extension, precisely by having no hand in it.

But as a lame duck, President Obama will probably take pleasure in officially vetoing any further extension. It would be the icing on the cake for the "compromise" that's going to lose the Republicans the next election and guarantee their tax cuts can never be further extended, precisely and exactly as the President planned it.


Edit: There is a reason for building a pocket veto into the plan, in addition to the expiration and the regular veto. If, for example, it becomes expedient to allow Democratic Senators to vote for such a thing in order to better secure the Democrats' chance at a super-majority in the Senate for the last two years of President Obama's term, then the President can softly strangle the bill instead of taking a hatchet to it and allow the Dem Senators to continue to rake in corporate cash.

[Devil_Fish]

22. I promise I won't hit you again, I'm so sorry, I'll quit hiting you, please don't call the police.NT

[ClarkUSA]

23. Makes sense. Pres. Obama did it last time to extend UI for millions of Americans and to preserve...

... the middle-class tax cuts as well as to pass (in disguised form which Republicans didn't figure out until too late :D) a second stimulus plan larger than the first aka. the 2011 payroll tax holiday.

By Dec. 2012, Team Obama has probably decided the desperate need for another UI extension or for a middle-class tax cut won't be there.

Of course, for those who never liked Barack Obama in the first place, nothing he says or does will ever be good enough. Fuck 'em!

[MannyGoldstein]

26. First off, 70% or so of the Bush/Obama tax cuts went to the wealthiest Americans

But it gets worse: because of the deficits due to the Obama/Bush plan, all kinds of savage cuts that harm working Americans and the poor are "necessary". (Of course these cuts are not actually necessary, but "making tough choices" to destroy the lives of the non-wealthy is kewl these days.) Money to the wealthiest Americans does zero to stimulate the economy. So, this was yet another Republican/Third Way/Very Serious People transfer of cash to the wealthiest from everyone else.

As to not needing a stimulus in 2012 - I don't think moving from Hoover's failed policies to FDR's mistaken 1937 economy-crashing policies will do anything but... crash the economy even worse. And we're already seeing that the economy is turning South at a good clip. We're going to need something, and fast, unless we want to see real unemployment increase from its current level of nearly 20%.

As to "never liking Barack Obama in the first place", I'm sure I'm not the only early backer of and contributor to the man, who is outraged by the huge pile of lies we were fed so mellifluously. Shame.

[ClarkUSA]

47. Prove your claims.

[MannyGoldstein]

56. Pick one.

Let's see how that goes.

[awoke_in_2003]

31. "in disguised form which Republicans didn't figure out until too late"

:rofl:

[ClarkUSA]

48. Check DU archives from Dec. 2010 and see for yourself how many OPs were posted about this then.

Republicans were moaning that they were fooled by voting for what they thought was a tax cut but what was in reality a trojan horse for another stimulus plan (which they never would've voted for).

[awoke_in_2003]

69. Republicans moaning about...

how they were "fooled" by the democrats is even less believable than democrats moaning about how they were "fooled" by republicans. The only people getting fooled in the country are the vast majority of Americans who can't see who is really running this country.

[adigal]

46. It shows limited thinking when you say F everyone who questions Obama

There are many here who are disappointed in him, because they put so much hope into him, and have been disappointed again and again and again. I cried joyfully when he won. I have cried, sadly, and with anger, when he has backed down on issue after issue.

To paint us all as Obama haters is just non-thinking.

[ClarkUSA]

50. Wrong. "It shows limited thinking when you say" something I never said.

This is your strawman fallacy: "you say F everyone who questions Obama"

This is what I actually said: "Of course, for those who never liked Barack Obama in the first place, nothing he says or does will ever be good enough. Fuck 'em!"

I stand by what I said.

[dflprincess]

24. And this time he really, really means it.

:sarcasm:

And I'll bet he'll stick to it when it comes to extending tax cuts for the working and middle classes.

[LetTimmySmoke]

27. Okay. Nice.

He's made a lot of pledges. Like his pledge to stop the federal medicinal marijuana raids in states where it's legal.

Good for Obama. He made a pledge today. I drove my car today.

[ReadTomPaine]

29. Pledge by Obama. Wipes away streak free! Leaves no marks! n/t

[keopeli]

32. another pledge....show me the money! n/t

[gtar100]

34. But what if the republicans start to whine and kick and scream...like we all know they will.

Like the spoiled brats they are...give them an inch, they'll take a mile.

[Wabbajack_]

39. ONLY the rich should be taxed

There I said it.

[Vidar]

40. I'll believe that pledge just as soon as the Brooklyn Bridge I was promised is delivered to me.

[panzerfaust]

41. Not AGAIN. Not THIS time. I PROMISE > Says Presiwimp

Well.

Perhaps just once more.

But then NO MORE!! after that!

NEVER! Probably.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vvcLFgE6iVo/SqaAnON8i0I/AAAAAAAAARE/N32fcEZFNbo/s400/Obama+DESPAIR+reduced.jpg

I swear!

Trust Me ...

[florida08]

43. ok..and I pledge not to vote for him

if caves again.

[Vinee]

49. just take me back one more time baby. I promise I'll never do that again. I've changed. I swear.

[adigal]

45. Blah, blah, blah, but did he promise to protect Medicare and SS??

I think not.

[ClarkUSA]

51. Bookmarking this page. When he keeps this promise, I am going to kick this thread.

:D

[onehandle]

52. It will be archived by then.

So you'll have to post the link in a new thread.

I was temped to say you would see flying cars first, but at the rate we are backsliding thanks to the teabagger mentality, I think we'll be lucky to have a functioning Internet.

[IScreamSundays]

53. He is a big fugging liar

he is nothing more than a puppet for the TBTF, Wall Street, and the status quo. You want to flame me, bring some facts.

[RBInMaine]

65. No, I'm just going to say you are full of shit.

[IScreamSundays]

54. He is a big fugging liar

he is nothing more than a puppet for the TBTF, Wall Street, and the status quo. You want to flame me, bring some facts.

[myrna minx]

58. lol.

[BlueIris]

59. That's a real comfort, knowing that I've got his 'pledge.' nt

[wordpix]

66. "indicated he would not compromise again"---why did he compromise the first time?

[andym]

67. well if economy slow to a crawl or goes back into recession

all bets are off. Since the President's moderate to conservative economists will warn him that "raising" taxes is dangerous.

[Supply Side Jesus]

68. "fool me once....shame on....shame on...you..

fool me....can't get fooled again.....hehehe...."

:sarcasm: :puke: