Don't care what Rahm thinks. :) But IMHO, Trump will run Ivanka for president

[Martin Eden]

320. "it (extending Bush tax cuts) would stop any chance of recovery the country stood"

Do you also think the stimulus bill, payroll & income tax cuts for working people, extension of unemployment benefits, and maintaining our social safety net programs "would stop any chance of recovery the country stood"? All of those things increase budget deficits, and two of them -- tax cuts for lower incomes and extension of unemployment benefits -- were part of the compromise legislation that included extending the Bush tax cuts.

To be clear, I'm 100% opposed to extending the Bush tax cuts for incomes above $100k (drawing the line lower than $250k). My point here is that budget deficts in the short term do not prevent economic recovery. In fact, that's our primary argument against the austerity measures the Rethugs want to impose on the middle and lower classes. Let's remember that Obama signed this bill because he didn't want to increase taxes on lower income Americans or lose unemployment benefits.

Nevertheless, that's when Obama lost my vote (in the Democratic primary if he has a viable opponent, which is highly unlikely). That was an opportunity for Obama to be forceful, stand up to the 1%, and make it clear that failure to extend tax cuts for those who need it and will spend it (important for economic recovery) would be entirely on the recalcitrant Republicans if they refused to budge. They would have violated their own anti-tax pledge, and the voters would know who to blame if Obama handled this right.

But there is no way in hell -- absent Instant Runoff Voting -- that I won't vote for Obama in the general election. There is no way getting around the cold hard fact -- the lesson learned in Florida 2000 -- that if enough votes on the left are withled from the Democratic nomineee the result will be a Republican president.

We endured 8 years of GW Bush, thousands of dead, and a ruined economy. It is unfathomable to me why any democrat/liberal/progressive would make a conscious decision to let that happen again.