I know my timing couldn't be worse, considering all the recent attention from Rush & his trolls

[JoePhilly]

42. This isn't going to be a problem ... and this is why ...

Back in the 2010 lame duck, Obama had to extend the Bush tax cuts. As a candidate he had made 2 promises on taxes.

1) Not to raise taxes on those under 250k.
2) End the tax cuts for those in the top 2%, above 250k.

At the end of the 2010 lame duck, if Obama let all the Bus tax cuts expire, he'd have broken promise #1. And the media would have crucified him for doing so. It would have been his "red my lips" moment. They would have played clips of Obama and Bush #1 making that "no new taxes" promise, and then they'd be outraged he broke it. That song would have played endlessly. And Obama would have been a 1 term President.

So Obama extended the tax cuts so they expired at the end of 2012. This was very smart for a number of reasons.

1) He kept promise #1, and seemed to break promise #2. Most Americans would have liked to see taxes go up on those OVER 250k, but they would have been angry if, to get that tax increase, their own taxes would also go up. This was obvious in the polls. Some on DU howled, but it was a smart move. The average American didn't care just so long as their own taxes didn't go up.

2) In the deal Obama got some concessions including the payroll tax holiday and the extensions of UE. Both of these are stimulative. And at the end of 2010, we needed some additional stimulus, and these were helpful. Again, many here on DU howled, concerned about the potential impact on Social Security. In particular, the loudest of those outraged were SURE that the tax holiday (and the Bush tax cuts) would never expire.

By moving the expiration of these to the end of 2012, Obama ensured that HE would get to make the decision of what happened next REGARDLESS of the 2012 election outcome. And then, he kept promise #1, and he also kept about 95% of promise #2 (losing about 5% of promise kept for raising the limit to 400k, which helps some Dems from high income parts of the country). And he allowed the tax holiday to expire (again, something the howlers on DU predicted would become permanent as part of Obama's evil secret plan to kill Social Security).

So now, the GOP is spinning. They claim THEY didn't just vote to raise taxes. They claim they actually voted to lower taxes. And no one believes them. Even Andrea Mitchell, usually spouting right wing talking points, laughed in Grover's face when he tried to claim that the GOP didn't vote to raise taxes.

But we will see some howling from the right ... "Obama raised your taxes 2%!!!!"

Its not going to work because Obama can't run for President again. That was the critical issue in 2010. And its now moot. The media can't juxtapose this event with Bush #1 clips. They really have no way to promote the meme.

Finally, when questioned by a howler about this 2% tax increase, you don't need to go through everything I just described, the response is a rather simple one.

Obama givith, and Obama takith away. In 2010, Obama gave you a temporary 2% cut to help keep the economy keep moving forward, and it has now expired, just as scheduled, just as Obama said it would. It is not a tax increase. Its simply a return to the prior rate from 2010. Which is what Obama said he'd do.

I do expect that Obama will talk about this down the road, but I don't think he needs to rush forward. Better to let the GOP continue to scream about it. A pivot to cabinet positions, gun control, or immigration may provide other more immediate venues in which the GOP can act like angry toddlers prior to the debt ceiling fight.

Their tantrums now overshadow almost any other point they might try to make.