President Obama Was Right to Cut a Deal

For 23 1/2 months Congress has failed to act on the expiring tax cuts. President Obama stepped in and provided some desperately needed leadership, and now the Democrats are all ready to fight...Obama?

Do you really think Congress can do in 2 weeks what it utterly failed to do in 23 1/2 months?

You can't say President Obama caved without recognizing that the Democratically held Congress has caved for almost 2 years. And now, at the eleventh hour, they think they can get a better deal. But they have put forward no bills either before of after Obama's negotiation with the Republicans.

President Obama was right to cut a deal. The reasoning he gave in his speech was pragmatic and made good sense.

Obama's deal will put food on the table for the unemployed. Tax cuts will pump billions into the economy just when we need it most. That money, if collected as tax, would never be allowed into the economy by the Republicans. The best way to get money to the middle class to spend it is to not collect it in the first place.

It's true that we liberals and progressives didn't feel like it was a "win" because Obama and other Democrats didn't "sell it". I think that this could have been framed more competently to make us feel victorious while doing the right thing. This is not a new issue; it has been a perennial problem for Democrats.

Democrats should not be disappointed with Obama for stepping in at the last minute to do something that the Democrats in Congress utterly failed to do for the 2 years they held both Houses of Congress.

Some of the Democrats in both the House and the Senate were actually in Congress to vote on the original Bush Tax Cuts in 2001. When were they planning to act? They waited 9 years, 11 months and 14 days before decrying the President for dealing with the issue at the last possible moment - while Democrats still held both Houses.

Democratic enthusiasm for a better tax plan is just too little, WAY too late. This should have been a priority a year ago.

Obama did the right thing. We should do the right thing and support him.