Lawrence O'Donnell's show was very good tonight

[tabatha]

The economist Galbraith thinks that Obama got a reasonably good deal and that he had no choice.

That cools my anger a little.

[gateley]

1. Listening to others who aren't as rabid as we are, I agree, it puts it a bit more

in perspective.

[pscot]

2. That must have been James

Kenneth died a few years back

[tabatha]

5. Thanks - I did not know that.

I just caught the name Galbraith.

[dennis4868]

3. I have been saying that all day....

on DU but no one listens....maybe its because I am not an economist....people need to understand that if Obama did not make this deal and decided to fight (whatever that means) we could have lost everything (tax cuts for the middle class, earn income tax credit and unemployment insurance) all in the name of just fighting (whatever that means)....no matter how much Obama fought the repubs would not all of a sudden say, "Okay Obama you win, no fillubuster on tax cuts just for the middle class."

[CakeGrrl]

6. I read Obama's statement and it made sense

That's what's becoming more disturbing about DU; people are ignoring some pretty reasonable stuff to go totally and completely off on Obama. It feels like a bunker mentality is on the verge of developing. The idea that hearing someone from the "outside" add perspective seems to bear that out.

[dennis4868]

9. I think I may need a vacation...

from DU until the dust settles down here....when DU startes to take their anger out at the real villans in the story, then I will be back but until then it's bash Obama 24/7...no dem president could have done anything different to get a tax cut only for the middle class....not with the way the repub party works these days....just was not going to happen.....

[rhett o rick]

19. Yeah, just roll over and give up. No Resistance what-so-ever. I am sick of the capitulation.

"Oh it's the best we could get", bullshit. The middle class is dying and we arent even trying.

The Obama tax cuts for billionaires.

[DesertFlower]

7. i agree. nt

[rhett o rick]

18. That's a bunch of crap. There isnt anything we will get that cant be undone. We are dealing with

terrorists. We are giving them $800 billion for a promise. How much next time? Force the republicans to vote down increases in unemployment and tax cuts for the middle class. But no, we give in, give up, kowtow to the minority party. I will tell you what fight means. It means force the obstructionist to actually filibuster if that's what they want. Tell them no once in a while. Put up even some mild resistance. But no, we just give in, capitulate to the assholes. And you are ok with that. You must not feel the economic crunch.

[stopbush]

22. No, we are giving them $140-billion.

The $700-billion + interest number is the amount for a decade @ $70-billion a year.

They are getting two years @ $70-billion.

Yes, it's outrageous in and of itself, but inflating the number to make an argument is something I expect from RWers, not progressives.

[Renew Deal]

4. TRAITOR!

:rofl:

[MindandSoul]

8. Agree! We're all angry, and he doesn't like it either, but we need

to sleep over this, look at all the options (or lack of options) that President Obama had, and move forward. . .making sure we remind the teabaggers and Republicans EVERY WEEK that they created this scandalous outcome that will increase the deficit that they were sooooo concerned about!

[tabatha]

10. We need some really good bumper stickers.

Republicans reducing the US to a third world country.

Republicans only like rich people.

Why can't we use this as potent a stick as the Republicans do with their wedge issues.

[MindandSoul]

25. That's a great idea! Let's think of a few good slogan!

How about: "I got $1,000 in tax break... Rush got $2.5 million!"

[rhett o rick]

26. Pleeez. How do we blame this on the republicans? Pres Obama is going to increase the deficit.

He will own this horrible bill. You cant tell me he doesnt have options, I dont fucking believe it. The repukes seem to have all kinds of tricks. But the Democrats willingly give Bush authorization to kill a million Iraqis, pass the Patriot Act and the MCA, and they groveled for 18 months to give us the HCR piece of shit. Now the Democrats are going to give the billionaires the exact same fucking tax breaks as Bush.

With all respect, it is waaaay past time to "sleep on it". It's time to kick some ass. Start with repukes and include the DL fucking C.

[provis99]

11. O'Donnell is a socialist-hugging Democrat hater.

Who cares what he thinks?

[dennis4868]

12. right....

you only care what people agree with you think...got it.

[PufPuf23]

13. I did not watch TV tonight.

Obama gave himself no choice but dug a deeper hole for the economy.

TV allows only opinion within "bounds" or ridiculous insanity.

Let's do some analysis ona napkin in Denney's with a pencil and see if 95% plus of the people or the economy or the deficit is helped especially over time.

[rhett o rick]

14. Yeah right, "Let us eat cake". Fuk that shit. we got screwed without a dinner. nm

[glitch]

15. If true then I am looking forward to his next article about it.

He's been arguing against cuts to Social Security so maybe he thinks Obama can use this to protect it. How can we cut Social Security if deficits aren't really a problem -- and how can they be a problem if tax cuts for the super rich are acceptable?

Not that I think that logic will be used but it could be.

[elleng]

16. Very good show, lots of useful explanation.

[xultar]

17. The problem is that he put himself in that position in the first place....that he had to

Deal.

[girl gone mad]

20. Galbraith understands that tax hikes are deflationary..

even when they target the wealthy. It wouldn't be the wisest thing to do in the midst of our near depression.

We should have addressed this earlier, with more progressive plan. However, in the absence of action, there was little choice. It still was a betrayal of campaign promises and it will create a lot of bad blood when they push SS cuts, more wage freezes, and additional austerity measures.

[BzaDem]

21. K & R.

[jimlup]

23. We have to extend unemployment. There is not choice there...

The strategy seems to be extend unemployment and get the economy better by the time the damn tax cuts come up again. But I'm not sure how it will play out for him politically. He'll need to find a way to bring us back into the fold, cause many are smoking mad at him. But try to project your feelings to November 2012. You'll still vote for him, you know you will. Will you get out and campaign as enthusiastically as you did in 2010? No, but he is a sitting president, he doesn't need that now.

[rhett o rick]

24. Should have been a separate issue. The repub terrorists will be back with another

horrible trade-off. Each time we slip farther behind. the middle class will eventually have to pay for the Obama trillion dollar give away.

[jimlup]

27. Yes, you are correct

And Obama could have drawn the line and didn't. We're in trouble here aren't we?

[KansasVoter]

28. Wow, and I can show you 100 who disagree who have more pull than them.