Why did Obama Cave in again and show no damn backbone.

[woo me with science]

72. The Third Way believes Americans are stupid.

To make the argument you just made presupposes that Americans are stupid.

You argue that, because Obama did not give every single thing away, that we won. That is like arguing that you were victorious against looters who emptied out your house, because they missed a wallet in one of the back bedrooms. Not only does this public relations tax increase affect only a small fraction of the wealthy who should be paying, it is insulting in its size and the amount of money it does collect, compared to the amount of money that will be squeezed from Americans who have already been knocked down and robbed over and over and over again.

Did you even read that part? It will collect 600 billion, out of more than FOUR TRILLION that the White House seeks to collect over the next decade. Guess who's in line to be soaked for the rest?

It is a cruel joke. It is beyond cynical and obscene to pretend that this is a win in any way. *Especially* when the deal is considered in its entirety, and *especially* considering how we got here, how the possible outcomes were narrowed from the start, and how our Democratic President participated in narrowing them.

We are admonished that we are the victors *even though* these numbers spell outrageous pain and unfairness for most of us. We are admonished that we are the victors *even though* the Military Industrial complex will continue to be fed like a pig. We are admonished that we are the victors *even though* corporate sop will continue shamelessly, and *even though* the game was rigged from the outset to ensure austerity as an outcome.

We were hosed. And we were hosed cynically and deliberately, by corporatists in both parties. You can't spin lipstick onto this pig. We have seen this game too many times before, and we are sick to death of it.

Real change will come only when Americans look clearly at how the game is rigged from the start in every single negotiation, how the possible options are artificially narrowed from the start, and how every negotiation moves us rightward. Every. Single. One.