Is Obama gaming us?

[loosecannon]

I get the distinct feeling that Obama's compromise with the repubs over tax cut extensions etc is a Trojan horse.

He may be instead setting up a scenario to rescue the dem party from the dump heap of history at his own expense.

If the dems refuse the deal and if the compromise is as unpopular as it appears now then the GOP may be saddled with an election issue that they can't overcome.

All the GOP would have to do is hold their ground until January and pass it anyway against Dem objection to seal their fate as the party of rich millionaires who don't give a damned about main street and who only care about their own estates.

In any case if the dems finally stand up and take this to the wall the GOP is cutting their own throats by supporting the tax cut extension.

You gotta wonder because even the compromise only extends the cuts two years, and by then unemployment extensions will have ended, making this topic red hot and fresh news just in time for the election in 2012.

If the economy still sucks, and it will, the GOP will own the miserable economy on the eve of the election and they will have completely surrendered any claim to fiscal responsibility or concern over the deficit.

 

[Trajan]

interesting, you're not the only one wondering, I m trying to figure out the gotcha here too...anyway, see the article...



Tax Deal Doesn't Make Sense for Obama
By Sean Trende

I've followed Barack Obama's presidency pretty closely for the past two years. I will say that, while I might not always agree with his decisions, I can usually see the logic behind them.

Not so with the recent compromise on extending the Bush tax cuts. To recap, the president, along with most Democrats, badly wanted to let the Bush tax cuts for high earners expire. Republicans wanted to extend all of the Bush tax rates. Failure to reach some type of accord meant that all of the Bush tax cuts expired, and everyone's taxes would go up January 1. In addition, unemployment benefits were set to expire for several million Americans without prompt congressional action. Republicans opposed extending these benefits without finding spending offsets.

On Monday, the White House announced that it had struck a deal with Republicans. In pertinent part, it (1) extends all of the Bush tax rates for two years; (2) extends unemployment insurance for 13 months; (3) cuts the payroll tax; and (4) includes a number of other minor tax items. The president then held a press conference where he blasted Republicans as "hostage takers," derided liberals as "sanctimonious," and reiterated his opposition to extending the Bush tax rates for higher earners as something the country couldn't afford.

I can honestly think of no good reason for this behavior. To the extent that there might be some rationale for the deal, it was upended by the subsequent press conference. Here are four rationales I can think of, and why I don't think any of them work.

the authors 4 viewpoints are at the link;

RealClearPolitics - Tax Deal Doesn't Make Sense for Obama

 

[NYcarbineer]

I see my idea of a couple days ago is catching on.

 

[Big Black Dog]

You saying Obama's got game?

 

[Sallow]

The GOP win last cycle was a last hurrah. While they probably will win Presidential elections and Congressional seats, unless something changes in the extremism..they won't be winning that big for quite some time. And yes..this was a smart, albeit cynical, move on the part of the President that has positioned himself very positively no matter what outcome eventually happens.

 

[The Infidel]

This is just a set up for the next elections. The GOP ought to fight the unemployment extension until the Dems figure out how we are going to pay for it.

 

[william the wie]

The GOP wins either way. Obama will face a primary challenge over this deal and the GOP ran on this extension but lack the votes in the senate to pass it later next year. Any downturn will result in "I told you so." interviews, likewise any inflation will cause Carter comparisons. The real race to the bottom is the popularity of the two majors.

 

[NYcarbineer]

It is pretty funny to see the establishment GOP already plucking the feathers off the supposed fiscal hawks of the Tea Party.

 

[Cuyo]

I get the distinct feeling that Obama's compromise with the repubs over tax cut extensions etc is a Trojan horse.

He may be instead setting up a scenario to rescue the dem party from the dump heap of history at his own expense.

If the dems refuse the deal and if the compromise is as unpopular as it appears now then the GOP may be saddled with an election issue that they can't overcome.

All the GOP would have to do is hold their ground until January and pass it anyway against Dem objection to seal their fate as the party of rich millionaires who don't give a damned about main street and who only care about their own estates.

In any case if the dems finally stand up and take this to the wall the GOP is cutting their own throats by supporting the tax cut extension.

You gotta wonder because even the compromise only extends the cuts two years, and by then unemployment extensions will have ended, making this topic red hot and fresh news just in time for the election in 2012.

If the economy still sucks, and it will, the GOP will own the miserable economy on the eve of the election and they will have completely surrendered any claim to fiscal responsibility or concern over the deficit.

Uggh, I hope so. I've been hoping the man's playing chess and not checkers for the last 2 years, because if not... He really sucks at being a politician.

I don't see what he could possibly hope to gain from this compromise, politically or otherwise. He's certainly not going to turn any of the new Right into fans; the ones who think he's somewhere between a radical pinko-commie leftist and an al-qaeda double-agent. And he's no dummy, certainly he realizes that his base is royally pissed off about this.

I suppose he could be going long, ensuring that the deficit continues to skyrocket so the new Teabaggers in congress could be framed as failures. But how well could that possibly play out? Surely they can blame the Democrats; The Republican base is infinitely susceptible to believing anything anyone tells them. Hell, when shit goes wrong when the Republicans are in power, they blame it on past Democrats and people believe them!

Not sure what he's up to... He's been creeping further and further to the right since he got in office... Buckling on every turn, approving every shitty compromise, even when he had both chambers. I just hope you're right and he knows what he's doing.

 

[Trajan]

I see my idea of a couple days ago is catching on.

refresh my memory please?

 

[loosecannon]

interesting, you're not the only one wondering, I m trying to figure out the gotcha here too...anyway, see the article...



Tax Deal Doesn't Make Sense for Obama
By Sean Trende

I've followed Barack Obama's presidency pretty closely for the past two years. I will say that, while I might not always agree with his decisions, I can usually see the logic behind them.

Not so with the recent compromise on extending the Bush tax cuts. To recap, the president, along with most Democrats, badly wanted to let the Bush tax cuts for high earners expire. Republicans wanted to extend all of the Bush tax rates. Failure to reach some type of accord meant that all of the Bush tax cuts expired, and everyone's taxes would go up January 1. In addition, unemployment benefits were set to expire for several million Americans without prompt congressional action. Republicans opposed extending these benefits without finding spending offsets.

On Monday, the White House announced that it had struck a deal with Republicans. In pertinent part, it (1) extends all of the Bush tax rates for two years; (2) extends unemployment insurance for 13 months; (3) cuts the payroll tax; and (4) includes a number of other minor tax items. The president then held a press conference where he blasted Republicans as "hostage takers," derided liberals as "sanctimonious," and reiterated his opposition to extending the Bush tax rates for higher earners as something the country couldn't afford.

I can honestly think of no good reason for this behavior. To the extent that there might be some rationale for the deal, it was upended by the subsequent press conference. Here are four rationales I can think of, and why I don't think any of them work.

the authors 4 viewpoints are at the link;

RealClearPolitics - Tax Deal Doesn't Make Sense for Obama

I think Obama is going for broke. If he can't win or even run in 2012 he doesn't mind sacrificing himself to preserve his party.

But if he wins, he wins big.

 

[Sallow]

This is just a set up for the next elections. The GOP ought to fight the unemployment extension until the Dems figure out how we are going to pay for it.

That's exactly what Demint wants to have happen. I hope he follows through.

That would be perfect.

 

[Sallow]

interesting, you're not the only one wondering, I m trying to figure out the gotcha here too...anyway, see the article...



Tax Deal Doesn't Make Sense for Obama
By Sean Trende

I've followed Barack Obama's presidency pretty closely for the past two years. I will say that, while I might not always agree with his decisions, I can usually see the logic behind them.

Not so with the recent compromise on extending the Bush tax cuts. To recap, the president, along with most Democrats, badly wanted to let the Bush tax cuts for high earners expire. Republicans wanted to extend all of the Bush tax rates. Failure to reach some type of accord meant that all of the Bush tax cuts expired, and everyone's taxes would go up January 1. In addition, unemployment benefits were set to expire for several million Americans without prompt congressional action. Republicans opposed extending these benefits without finding spending offsets.

On Monday, the White House announced that it had struck a deal with Republicans. In pertinent part, it (1) extends all of the Bush tax rates for two years; (2) extends unemployment insurance for 13 months; (3) cuts the payroll tax; and (4) includes a number of other minor tax items. The president then held a press conference where he blasted Republicans as "hostage takers," derided liberals as "sanctimonious," and reiterated his opposition to extending the Bush tax rates for higher earners as something the country couldn't afford.

I can honestly think of no good reason for this behavior. To the extent that there might be some rationale for the deal, it was upended by the subsequent press conference. Here are four rationales I can think of, and why I don't think any of them work.

the authors 4 viewpoints are at the link;

RealClearPolitics - Tax Deal Doesn't Make Sense for Obama

I think Obama is going for broke. If he can't win or even run in 2012 he doesn't mind sacrificing himself to preserve his party.

But if he wins, he wins big.

At this point Obama wins big against everyone except Romney. And even then he still wins. But what he is assuring is a near bullet proof candidacy.

 

[uscitizen]

When is any politician, political pundit or political party not "gaming" us?

 

[loosecannon]

interesting, you're not the only one wondering, I m trying to figure out the gotcha here too...anyway, see the article...



Tax Deal Doesn't Make Sense for Obama
By Sean Trende

I've followed Barack Obama's presidency pretty closely for the past two years. I will say that, while I might not always agree with his decisions, I can usually see the logic behind them.

Not so with the recent compromise on extending the Bush tax cuts. To recap, the president, along with most Democrats, badly wanted to let the Bush tax cuts for high earners expire. Republicans wanted to extend all of the Bush tax rates. Failure to reach some type of accord meant that all of the Bush tax cuts expired, and everyone's taxes would go up January 1. In addition, unemployment benefits were set to expire for several million Americans without prompt congressional action. Republicans opposed extending these benefits without finding spending offsets.

On Monday, the White House announced that it had struck a deal with Republicans. In pertinent part, it (1) extends all of the Bush tax rates for two years; (2) extends unemployment insurance for 13 months; (3) cuts the payroll tax; and (4) includes a number of other minor tax items. The president then held a press conference where he blasted Republicans as "hostage takers," derided liberals as "sanctimonious," and reiterated his opposition to extending the Bush tax rates for higher earners as something the country couldn't afford.

I can honestly think of no good reason for this behavior. To the extent that there might be some rationale for the deal, it was upended by the subsequent press conference. Here are four rationales I can think of, and why I don't think any of them work.

the authors 4 viewpoints are at the link;

RealClearPolitics - Tax Deal Doesn't Make Sense for Obama

I think Obama is going for broke. If he can't win or even run in 2012 he doesn't mind sacrificing himself to preserve his party.

But if he wins, he wins big.

At this point Obama wins big against everyone except Romney. And even then he still wins. But what he is assuring is a near bullet proof candidacy.

at this point Obama may not have the support of his party for a second term. imo.

But what does Obama really need politically to change that?

1) he needs to saddle the GOP with responsibility for the deficit and the economy

2) see #1

 

[william the wie]

The GOP is hoping and it looks like successfully that Reid will cut a deal that the senate can stomach and that Pelosi will ram the bill through in a lameduck session. That way Obama gets publicly denounced as a two-faced liar, combined with Paul having been greenlighted to denounce Bernancke and Geithner as Dem bagmen for payoffs to contributors it should get real interesting.

 

[Synthaholic]

I get the distinct feeling that Obama's compromise with the repubs over tax cut extensions etc is a Trojan horse.

He may be instead setting up a scenario to rescue the dem party from the dump heap of history at his own expense.

If the dems refuse the deal and if the compromise is as unpopular as it appears now then the GOP may be saddled with an election issue that they can't overcome.

All the GOP would have to do is hold their ground until January and pass it anyway against Dem objection to seal their fate as the party of rich millionaires who don't give a damned about main street and who only care about their own estates.

In any case if the dems finally stand up and take this to the wall the GOP is cutting their own throats by supporting the tax cut extension.

You gotta wonder because even the compromise only extends the cuts two years, and by then unemployment extensions will have ended, making this topic red hot and fresh news just in time for the election in 2012.

If the economy still sucks, and it will, the GOP will own the miserable economy on the eve of the election and they will have completely surrendered any claim to fiscal responsibility or concern over the deficit.

Pass what anyway? This legislation expires on Jan. 1 - it cannot be revived after Boehner becomes Speaker.

They could write new tax cuts for the rich, but why would Harry Reid let that be brought up on the Senate floor?

 

[loosecannon]

I get the distinct feeling that Obama's compromise with the repubs over tax cut extensions etc is a Trojan horse.

He may be instead setting up a scenario to rescue the dem party from the dump heap of history at his own expense.

If the dems refuse the deal and if the compromise is as unpopular as it appears now then the GOP may be saddled with an election issue that they can't overcome.

All the GOP would have to do is hold their ground until January and pass it anyway against Dem objection to seal their fate as the party of rich millionaires who don't give a damned about main street and who only care about their own estates.

In any case if the dems finally stand up and take this to the wall the GOP is cutting their own throats by supporting the tax cut extension.

You gotta wonder because even the compromise only extends the cuts two years, and by then unemployment extensions will have ended, making this topic red hot and fresh news just in time for the election in 2012.

If the economy still sucks, and it will, the GOP will own the miserable economy on the eve of the election and they will have completely surrendered any claim to fiscal responsibility or concern over the deficit.

Pass what anyway? This legislation expires on Jan. 1 - it cannot be revived after Boehner becomes Speaker.

They could write new tax cuts for the rich, but why would Harry Reid let that be brought up on the Senate floor?

Ask Obama. He mentioned in his speech the need to resolve this now before the new congress is seated fearing that an enduring debate would weaken his position and that of the dems to clear passage.

 

[william the wie]

A simpler schema LC,

The state obligations of UC extension will topple the economy of mostly blue states.

Raising taxes on anybody can be blamed for state defaults.

Obama may have been gamed. Then again the GOP masterminds do not seem bright enough to pull this off themselves. I suspect Obama is gaming Obama.

 

[Synthaholic]

I get the distinct feeling that Obama's compromise with the repubs over tax cut extensions etc is a Trojan horse.

He may be instead setting up a scenario to rescue the dem party from the dump heap of history at his own expense.

If the dems refuse the deal and if the compromise is as unpopular as it appears now then the GOP may be saddled with an election issue that they can't overcome.

All the GOP would have to do is hold their ground until January and pass it anyway against Dem objection to seal their fate as the party of rich millionaires who don't give a damned about main street and who only care about their own estates.

In any case if the dems finally stand up and take this to the wall the GOP is cutting their own throats by supporting the tax cut extension.

You gotta wonder because even the compromise only extends the cuts two years, and by then unemployment extensions will have ended, making this topic red hot and fresh news just in time for the election in 2012.

If the economy still sucks, and it will, the GOP will own the miserable economy on the eve of the election and they will have completely surrendered any claim to fiscal responsibility or concern over the deficit.

Pass what anyway? This legislation expires on Jan. 1 - it cannot be revived after Boehner becomes Speaker.

They could write new tax cuts for the rich, but why would Harry Reid let that be brought up on the Senate floor?

Ask Obama. He mentioned in his speech the need to resolve this now before the new congress is seated fearing that an enduring debate would weaken his position and that of the dems to clear passage.

You probably misunderstood him.