THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Now that Congress is in a ruptured duck session to try and complete the business they were meant to do over the last two years, the Republican/Teabaggers find themselves in a read-it-and-weep situation. Now that he is dealing from a stronger position, President Obama is not going to give away the bundle of goodies the GOP could have gotten last year.

Last year, Obama was willing to play loophole and tax deductions name games (aka: “tax reform”) with Republicans who signed a pledge not to raise taxes, while keeping the Bush tax cuts in place. Not so much this time around. The Bush tax cuts on the rich must go and Obama will not allow Republicans to hide letting them expire in fancy loophole language about “tax reform.”

The President is going to hold on till he gets tax increases on the wealthiest Americans, promising that the Bush tax cuts on the richest 2% will expire. The White House called this “non-negotiable” yesterday. The President has said over and over again that tax cuts for the middle class are something everyone agrees on, so there’s no reason for them to be linked to tax cuts for the rich. In other words, Republicans need to stop holding tax cuts for the middle class hostage in order to protect the über rich.

“This is a confidential document, last offer the president — the White House made last year to Speaker Boehner to try to reach this $4 trillion grand bargain. And it’s long and it’s tedious and it’s got budget jargon in it. But what it shows is a willingness to cut all kinds of things, like TRICARE, which is the sacred health insurance program for the military, for military retirees; to cut Social Security; to cut Medicare. And there are some lines in there about, “We want to get tax rates down, not only for individuals but for businesses.” So Obama and the White House were willing to go quite far.”

So we did get one benefit from Republican/Teabagger greed. Pity we couldn't have used it before the election.