Lame Duck

Obama's Saturday address rather whimsically lays it out-- he's not gonna waver over tax cuts for the millionaires and billionaires but he wants to work with the new Congressional winners, which he identifies as Republicans, Democrats and Independents. The people have spoken, and the message they sent by electing a GOP House was to tell him that socialistic change had not come fast enough! Well, at least he's a glass-half-full kind of guy, even if a bit myopic.

But in strongly defending tax cuts for the 'middle class' he's kind of contradicting previous rhetoric..

He also talked about reversing Bush's tax cuts for the rich, to the delight of the crowd bringing about a large round of applause. He explained that many rich people are happy to reverse the tax cuts as long as they know that the money is going to a good cause.

Notice the parsing. Back then the tax rate was always described as "Bush's tax cuts for the rich", now suddenly, with middle class voters about to be shellacked, they are Bush's "tax cuts for the middle class". Such is the nature of change in DC.

Of course this rhetoric is simply to set up the mother of all lame duck battles between the Pelosi House and the incoming leadership. The Dems were smart by not showing their hands on this issue before the election as some wanted and now they hold a tremendous card going into 2011. If the GOP wants the current rate extended fairly and for everyone they'll have to cut a deal. But can they afford to be cutting deals before they even get the gavel? Any deals will be criticized not only by the Dem-media complex but by the Sarah Palin-Tea Party complex. In many ways this battle will set the tone for the 2011 Congress and how they are viewed. So strap in...

PS, the above-linked article from 2007 contains some real gems about Obama worth highlighting...

"It is irresponsible to be continually borrowing from the next generation. At some point something's got to give," he said.

Yes, but only in terms of tax cuts, not political payoffs and pet projects. And..

He also talked about creating a more efficient system by instituting 'PAYGO,' which would mean that if tax cuts were given, it would only be able to happen if there was a way of retrieving that loss.

"If you are going to cut taxes, you have got to find a way of paying for it," he said.

PAYGO is in effect yet he wants to extend the middle class cuts. Are they paid for? He's also ignoring revenues back to the Treasury when people have more money to spend. And..

Many people don't know who Obama is yet. According to Patrick, Obama is from Kenya and his name is Swahili. It is a good thing that one of the other issues that Obama wishes to address when he becomes president is the shameful mud slinging that goes on during an election, and he suggests that if the campaigning was paid for with public funds it would eliminate a lot of the sniping. He also suggested that TV stations cover the campaign for free with designated time slots.

From Kenya? Birther alert! Mud-slinging? Punish your enemies! As to the public money, apparently that was only for McCain. And finally..

Given that Obama rhymes with Osama and Barack sounds decidedly Muslim or Arabic, although he is reported to be a devout Christian, the media could be used as a tool to destroy his campaign purely based upon his name. So, reforming the election process and dragging political campaigning out of the gutter could pave the way for a more civilized election, in theory, but Obama will have to get in to the Whitehouse first.

Yes, but before reform to a more civilized election we first must get the car out of the ditch and make the opposition sit in the back of the bus and take away their Slurpees, all due to the irresponsible actions of the previous administration!