Obama: Dealing out his supporters

[somone]

http://www.seattlepi.com/connelly/431361_JOEL08.html

Obama: Dealing out his supporters
by JOEL CONNELLY

John F. Kennedy was depicted clad as Superman, bending a weighty steel ingot over his knee, in a 1962 cartoon drawn by Bill Mauldin.

It was inspired by Kennedy's decision to go eyeball-to-eyeball with U.S. Steel and other steel-makers, a confrontation in which he forced Big Steel to roll back an inflationary price hike.

President Obama cuts a less commanding figure after cutting a tax deal with Republicans on Monday. The president's political base was cut out. Obama sold out on a signature 2008 campaign pledge not to extend tax cuts that Bush bestowed on the rich.

He did deal to extend long-term unemployment insurance by 13 months. In exchange for holding jobless benefits hostage, however, Republicans won two more years of high-income tax cuts plus new estate-tax rates that are a Christmas present to plutocrats and their progeny...

[mr_liberal]

1. he showed strength.

He took on the left of his party; thats what he needs to do to be reelected.

There was too much spending and big gov't and partisanship in his first two years. Thats what voters voted against in the midterms.

this is the first move in changing course. Its very good news; its shows that he gets it, that he knows he must change course to be reelected..

[Sherman A1]

2. I disagree with your assessment

I believe that the GOP won in the mid terms for a variety of reasons, but mostly it was a "throw the bums out" reaction to our economy. I suspect if things do not improve 2012 will have a similar look.

You are correct he did take on (or perhaps dump on) the left of his party several times, but those are the people who worked hard to elect him, expecting change and frankly they are not too pleased.

Not extending the tax cuts for the wealthy (or perhaps all of them) would have helped to reign in the deficit which seems to be the GOP's main talking point of late, yet it was they who created this mess with the Bush era tax cuts in the first place.


They should all simply be allowed to expire and I believe we return to a top tax rate of the Eisenhower Era.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. He won't be reelected.

Without the left, he's a goner.

He's going full bore to the right - and when the offering is between a republica and a faux-republican it will be the republican who will take the election.

If you really were what your moniker claims, you'd know that.

[rpannier]

4. Umnmmm... Yeah

That's a fairly weak analysis
He has been complaining about the 'left' in the Party for over 15 months.
He hasn't gotten a thing.
He continues to give the Republicans what they want.
I can't think of any President in my lifetime, US or another country, who has done a worse job of controlling the talking points than this President has.