Daily Archives: December 1, 2012

December 1, 2012 · 1:32 PM

In fiscal negotiations, Obama channels ‘The Godfather’

President Obama channelled the Michael Corleone of The Godfather in his opening fiscal cliff bid.

President Obama channelled the Michael Corleone of The Godfather in his opening fiscal cliff bid.

As a fan of The Godfather, I’ve been enjoying MSNBC commentators’ comparisons of the president’s fiscal cliff negotiations to The Godfather movies.

I was watching Melissa Harris Perry this morning and she also used the Godfather analogy to describe president Obama’s leverage in the current fiscal negotiations. (The relevant portion of the video link above starts after the 30 second intro from Ms. Harris.)

MSNBC

President Obama presented his fiscal cliff proposal to Republicans Thursday, calling for $1.6 trillion in new taxes, $50 billion in new spending to bolster the economy, and an elimination of the debt ceiling as we know it. In the way of capitulation, Obama’s first proposal offers exactly nothing.

Whether or not the president is taking his bargaining cues from Michael Corleone is still being determined.

For film buffs out there, Mr. Obama’s offer recalls Don Corleone’s offer to fictional Nevada Sen. Pat Geary in The Godfather Part II, in which Geary demands that Corleone pay him off for a gaming license. Corleone, stony and aloof, responds, “My offer is this: nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally.”

In this metaphor, Sen. Geary is John Boehner. And the fee for the gaming license is the federal debt limit.

Most of Obama’s proposal is nothing new. Several pieces, such as the expiration of tax cuts on the richest 2%, have been hashed out in the campaign and since. “This should not be news to anyone on Capitol Hill,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Friday, in a decidedly abrasive tone. “It is certainly not news to anyone in America who was not in a coma during the campaign season.”

The White House proposal seeks to trim the deficit by $4 trillion over a decade. One trillion of that will come from the expiration of the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest. Obama also wants dividends to be taxed as normal income, and the estate tax to rise from 15 to 45 percent, which it is already scheduled to do if no action is taken.

Entitlements, a contentious point for Democrats and Republicans alike, will see about $350 billion in savings from the president’s plan, mostly coming from Medicare. The details of these cuts would be decided by policymakers in 2013.

The real surprise in all of this is the the White House’s proposal to give the president unilateral power to raise the debt ceiling, barring a two-thirds opposition from Congress. An even greater surprise might be that this policy was originally proposed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“The effect of this policy would, in general, be to finish off the debt ceiling,” wrote Ezra Klein on his Wonkblog Friday. “Republicans are laughing this off as a ridiculous, pie-in-the-sky proposal. But it’s actually a great idea—one that could do more to protect our economy than anything else in the debt deal. Even better, it would cost us nothing. Measured by its cost-effectiveness, it’s perhaps the best idea in American politics today.”

The president’s opening bid is bold. And though it may owe some debt to the Godfather, it’s certainly an offer Republicans can refuse.

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· 11:24 AM

Peggy Noonan: Why Can’t Obama Just Give Us What We Want?

Peggy Noonan has gotten worse over the last four years.

What she seems to be saying is Obama needs to stop with the games and give the GOP what they want.  Uh, Ms. Noonan, you know very well that’s not how politics is played.

Had the GOP won this year they would have been full of demands like they were in 2010.

Addicting Info

Peggy Noonan is one of the wise elders of the right wing and she’s mad at President Obama. Why? He’s so stand-offish! Via DailyKos (emphasis mine):

You watch and wonder: Why does it always have to be cliffs with this president? Why is it always a high-stakes battle? Why doesn’t he shrewdly re-enact Ronald Reagan, meeting, arguing and negotiating in good faith with Speaker Tip O’Neill, who respected very little of what the president stood for and yet, at the end of the day and with the country in mind, could shake hands and get it done? Why is there never a sense with Mr. Obama that he understands the other guys’ real position?

It’s not as if Mr. Boehner and the Republicans wouldn’t deal. They’ve been weakened and they know it. A year ago they hoped winning the Senate and the presidency would break the stasis. They won neither. Mr. Obama not only was re-elected, it wasn’t that close, it was a clean win. If the president was clear about anything throughout the campaign, it was that he wanted to raise taxes on those he calls the rich. So you might say that a majority of the American people just endorsed that move.

No one would know this better than Mr. Boehner, who has risen to where he is in part because he’s good at seeing the lay of the land and admitting what’s there.

So it’s Obama’s fault for not just giving the GOP whatever it wants? How does that work? Oh yeah, I forgot! When Republicans win elections, they have unlimited political power and all must obey their dictates. When a Democrat wins, they really should just “compromise” with the losing minority. And by “compromise” they mean “do everything the way we want or we’ll bring the country to a screeching halt.”

Keep in mind, Peggy just said that Obama campaigned on raising taxes on the rich and the public said, “yes!” So what are the Republicans balking at? Raising taxes on the rich.

But, hey!, let’s blame Obama for the failure in negotiations. Under no circumstances can we blame the the party that has filibustered more bills than any Congress in history and has stated, out loud, that their number one priority was to make Obama a one term president. This makes perfect sense. On Fox News.

Listen Peggy, elections have consequences. One of those consequences is that the losing side does not get to make demands like they won. You lost, Peggy. Badly. And unlike Bush’s 2004 Social Security bait and switch (which failed miserably), Obama is doing exactly what he campaigned on. You’ll take whatever you’re damn well given and like it!

Just as an aside: Notice that Peggy says Obama “wanted to raise taxes on those he calls the rich”as if people making over $250,000 are not rich? And this is not a tax raise on that first $250k anyway, it’s everything AFTER $250k. The median household income for 2012 was $50,054. If you’re making FIVE TIMES as much and still complaining you’re not rich?

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· 12:15 AM

The Republican Obsession With Obstructing Obama is Endangering the Country

It’s pretty clear that the GOP’s Obama Derangement Syndrome has gone off the deep end and has put our country in deep financial peril.  This great article goes on to explain just how this terrible “illness” is affecting the country…

PoliticusUSA

The spectrum of behaviors characterized by abnormal mental or behavioral patterns manifest as violations of normalcy, including a person becoming a danger to others, is a broad definition of insanity. Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” and his definition aptly describes the Republican Party for the past thirty years. However, since President Obama won re-election three weeks ago, members of the GOP in Congress have gone off the rails, and the consequences to the government, and 98% of the people, represents a clear danger to the nation’s fragile economic recovery. Even though the election proved voters rejected Republican obstructionism and loyalty to the wealthy, they are digging in their heels and threatening tactics they used over the past four years as if the people demanded they continue making government unmanageable.

When S&P downgraded the country’s credit rating last year, they said “America’s governance was becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable,” and blamed Republicans for using “the statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default as political bargaining chips to resist any measure that would raise revenues.” S&P recognized that sequestration leading to the so-called fiscal cliff was “a fallback mechanism designed to encourage Congress to embrace a more balanced approach to deficit reduction,” but they understood Republicans were intent on letting the “2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place.” The Republican proposals beginning the day after the election informed that S&P recognized what many Americans have witnessed for the past four years and that is the Republicans will continue obstructing any attempt to increase revenue that includes raising taxes on the rich. In fact, they are still pushing Romney’s tax plan for fiscal cliff negotiations that include reducing tax rates for the wealthy and closing tax loopholes for the middle class.

In an effort to unblock the logjam in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid is proposing changing filibuster rules to disallow Republicans from obstructing bills from even coming up for discussion, and it prompted Speaker of the House John Boehner to pre-condemn a change to the filibuster by threatening that, “Any bill that reaches a Republican-led House based on Senate Democrats’ heavy-handed power play would be dead on arrival.” However, there have been bills that did pass the filibuster prone Senate Republicans, like keeping tax cuts for 98% of Americans and 97% of small businesses, that House Republicans refuse to bring up for a vote, or discussion. Republican obstructionism is not dependent on Senate procedures, but on giving preference to the wealthy and opposing any Administration or Democratic measure regardless if it helps create jobs, boost the economy, or reduce the deficit.

Continue reading here…

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· 12:05 AM

Week in one liners: Biden, Cain, Carney

Politico

The top quotes in politics …

“I’m looking for pies.” —Vice President Joe Biden at Costco.

“He said he wouldn’t play me but I could play on his team.” — Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III on challenging Obama to a basketball game.

“Last week The Onion said I was going to become a male stripper.”  — Education Secretary Arne Duncan responding to questions about his future.

“It’s a cultural icon! Or something.” — Former White House hopeful Herman Cain on his 9-9-9 tax plan.

“I screwed up royally.”— Ex-CIA director David Petraeus in a letter about his affair.

“The only good thing about Grover Norquist is he’s named after a character from ‘Sesame Street.’”  — Former Pres. George W. Bush adviser Matthew Dowd going after the anti-tax activist.

“The notion that you can solve all problems over a cocktail I think is a little overrated.” — WH press secretary Jay Carney on the importance of socialization with lawmakers.

“I got beer!” — Small business owner Deborah Carey discovering bottles of White House home brew in her swag bag.

 

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· 12:01 AM

West Wing Week: 11/30/12 or “#My2k, Tweet it!”

The White House

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov:

#My2k: This week, President Obama called on the American people to speak out in favor of keeping taxes low on the middle class. He explained:

If Congress does nothing, every family in America will see their taxes automatically go up at the beginning of next year. A typical middle-class family of four would see its income taxes go up by $2,200. That’s $2,200 out of people’s pockets. That means less money for buying groceries, less money for filling prescriptions, less money for buying diapers. It means a tougher choice between paying the rent and paying tuition. And middle-class families just can’t afford that right now.

The President asked the American people to speak loudly by sharing what $2,000 means to them online on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #My2k. Here’s how you can get involved:

Holidays at the White House: Earlier this week, the First Lady previewed the 2012 White House holiday decorations, showcasing this year’s theme: “Joy to All.” The decorations embrace several beloved White House traditions, including 54 decorated trees throughout the residence and a White House gingerbread house. The First Lady explained that this year’s theme “celebrated the many joys of the holiday season: the joy of giving and service to others; the joy of sharing our blessings with one another; and, of course, the joy of welcoming friends and family as guests into our home over these next several weeks.”

President Obama Welcomes Mexico President-Elect: On Tuesday, President Obama welcomed President-elect of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto to the Oval Office. They discussed the close relationship between Mexico and the United States, and the President noted that President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto’s reform agenda is one that Americans will watch closely.

Cabinet Meeting: On Wednesday, the President held a Cabinet meeting—the first one since the election. He first thanked Cabinet members for doing “a remarkable job on behalf of the American people,” and reminded them there’s still much work to be done.

Vice President Biden Goes to Costco: On Thursday, the Vice President visited the newly opened Costco in Washington, DC. After picking out a few Christmas presents and other items, he spoke about the importance of extending tax cuts for middle-class families.

World AIDS Day 2012: Today, to commemorate World AIDS Day, the White House hosted a special office hour session with Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett and Gayle Smith, Senior Director, National Security Council, to answer questions on Twitter about the Obama administration’s role in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. Learn more about how the White House is honoring World AIDS Day 2012 here.

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