I love President Obama...

[bigtree]

75. well, there have been many, many things that this administration has done to benefit average folks

. . . it's just not credible to point to that tax deal and negate the rest. Arguing it, though, against your pov is useless. You see that deal as paramount. I don't think the record adds up that way. For instance, I don't believe we are 'always seeing proposals coming from the White House that we are fired up to oppose.'

I just don't, and I think that pov is more informed by a mindset against this administration than an objective one. The tax deal is paramount to you. I think that's absurd. I can't think of a better word. But it obviously shapes your opinion of the man.

Conversely, I see the economic record differently. That shapes my own impression. You likely (evidently) think that's just as absurd.

Btw, Congress sets the parameters of these budget deals and it's obvious that the President is going to accept whatever they will bear or can manage. This WH advisory role has been nothing more than an amplifier of legislators' Democratic agenda, with a few contrary measures thrown in. This is not a President who feels he can direct Congress where they don't want to go, and legislators haven't been shy about openly opposing him where they are politically vulnerable.

You can knock him for timidness, but it's not as if he's setting their agenda; even on this controversial SS proposal. I haven't heard that he's pushing Democrats to support it, and I don't expect him to. They have their own elections to win, he doesn't. They are free to ignore whatever is politically unsavory from the WH and even posture against it.

'Proposing' is 90% of the sum of what the president is capable of. Yet, it's the 10% that's his signature that makes him relevant at all in the budget debate. You can be sure he'll be ready with pens in hand if Democrats manage to pass a budget out of both houses (republicans can't).