Following up on an earlier item, President Obama spoke from the East Room of the White House this afternoon, making his case for extending a middle-class tax break. As was the case with Obama's moves on immigration and marriage equality, it's fair to say the president's proposal is ... clever.
For those who can't watch clips online, the transcript is already up, and it's worth checking out. Obama reminded the public of the taxes he's already cut -- "I wanted to repeat that because sometimes there's a little misinformation out there and folks get confused about it," he said -- and highlighted the fact that trickle-down economics hasn't worked. Obama added that the policy might look a lot different if the nation was still running a surplus.
But the meat of the pitch was making the case for extending lower tax rates for another year for those making under $250,000.
"I believe we should be able to come together and get this done. While I disagree on extending tax cuts for the wealthy, because we just can't afford them, I recognize that not everybody agrees with me on this. On the other hand, we all say we agree that we should extend the tax cuts for 98 percent of the American people. Everybody says that. The Republicans say they don't want to raise taxes on the middle class. I don't want to raise taxes on the middle class.
"So we should all agree to extend the tax cuts for the middle class. Let's agree to do what we agree on. Right? That's what compromise is all about. Let's not hold the vast majority of Americans and our entire economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy. We can have that debate. We can have that debate, but let's not hold up working on the thing that we already agree on."
If this is about getting the larger tax fight off to a good start, Obama's strategy is a good one.
For one thing, this tries to separate two tax policies -- a popular one (extended breaks for the middle class) and an unpopular one (extended breaks for the rich) -- making it harder for Republicans to hold the prior the hostage.
For another, as Nate Cohn explained, this will necessarily put Romney "in a delicate position."
He will be forced to oppose extending tax cuts for the middle class and defend tax cuts for affluent Americans immediately after a relentless effort to define Romney as a self-interested plutocrat who prioritizes personal wealth over middle class job security. Undoubtedly, the Obama campaign will deploy personal attacks on Romney's offshore bank accounts and investments in foreign tax havens to implicate his credibility on taxes -- giving the debate unusual and powerful synergy between character and policy questions.
These Romney-specific challenges compound the difficulties of navigating an already challenging political issue. Polls show strong support for allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for affluent Americans. Surely support for extending tax cuts for middle class families is even higher, especially since the GOP will struggle to explain their opposition to extending middle class tax cuts when claiming to support such an extension. Even if the GOP can effectively defuse the issue, bringing up taxes provides ample opportunities for the Obama campaign to pivot to personal attacks on Bermudan shell companies and Swiss bank accounts, solidifying emerging negative impressions of Romney's business dealings.
This, in turn, undermines Romney's outreach to the very white, working-class voters in the Midwest he'll need if he's going to win.
Obama and his team don't seem afraid of this fight in the slightest. On the contrary, they feel like they have the stronger hand -- if Republicans give in and approve the president's plan, Obama gets the political benefit; if Republicans are intransigent and fight for the rich, Obama gets the political benefit.
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the meat of the pitch was making the case for extending lower tax rates for another year for those making under $250,000...
I have a question. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Senator Obama originally ran on making the Bush tax cuts permanent for households making less than $250,000. So, why is President Obama now arguing to extend them for just one year? Why set us up to have this fight year after year after year?
That's all he could hope to get this time around. But if the Dems win Congress -- the sky's the limit. (If not too many blue dogs win.)
Question:
Answer:
Because one year keeps it on the table for both sides to play politics with...
JJFFMM, are you saying that the Dems would cut these taxes permanently if it weren't for the Republicans?
Here we go with the "both sides do it" right wing chant.... Good God am I sick of that one...
It is called the game of politics for a reason, Donna. Are you so naive to think that both sides aren't playing the game and both sides don't shade the truth in their favor?
Oh brother. Republicans will campaign on tax cuts for everyone. It will be the Democrats that have to instigate class warfare. The alternative is for Congress to do nothing and every one will get a tax increase courtesy the Democrats. This is a lose-lose for Democrats. Bring it on.
shooter242
June 11, 2012 at 6:54 am
I’d like to encourage more trollery on left wing sites. Specifically pushback on common memes such as identified by Jonah Goldberg as unchallenged cliches. It can actually work, and it can actually change the course of debate.
For instance, I always challenge “the rich take too much of the pie” meme. There is no pie, no one decides who gets what, and the “pie” is a measure of contributions to a total. Ergo the rich don’t take they contribute. It’s been gratifyingly effective.
Try it you’ll like it. Don’t curse and keep the personal insults to a bare minimum, don’t allow moving goal posts or distractions. Ignore trollish responders, and be four times more civil. They hate that.
http://moelane.com/2012/06/09/troll-hunting-101/
I don't believe this is a lose-lose for Dems, but I do think Romney will campaign on extending the tax cuts for everyone instead of embracing cuts for the affluent and opposing them for the middle class as was suggested by Nate Cohn. It's still a good strategy since it makes Mitt and the republicans look like they're holding the tax cut extension for the middle class hostage by insisting on the tax cut extension for the wealthy. We'll see how it plays out, but it seems like a good strategy to me.
It's a win-win for Democrats because the majority of the country wants the high-end "moneymakers" (although what they do other than sitting on their asses and firing people to make money, for the most part, is a mystery) to pay their fair share, not 15%. It's a win-win because the rest of us like having a tax cut and don't think that people who could pay our salaries 50 times over from their stock dividends need one. It's a win-win because, if it doesn't happen, it's because the GOP stuck their fingers in their ears, went LALALALALALA, and sulked in the corner, and people will remember that and vote accordingly.
And it's a win-win because Shooter felt the need to lie about it to try and pretend it isn't. Shooter, if you said water was wet, I'd have to go dive in to check, and then keel over from surprise that you got one thing right, ever.
Rob, trying to use the "both parties do it meme" and it is "politics" in an attempt to hide from the fact that the GOP is the party that does not give a darn about the middle class or the poor is bull. And you are full of it. Well, actually you and shooter are both full of it.
Thank you Rollo, killing the pie meme is one of my successes.
Donna, you will not engage in dialog or answer questions. You speak in generalities and throw insults. I am "full of it" from time to time, unfortunately your comments are mostly empty.
Rob I engage in dialog and answer questions. You just don't like the answers that I give.
And you are full of it. And your comments are mostly right wing talking points that you constantly try to justify and fail while doing so.
And shooter, people have called out your trollish memes plenty of times. Just sayin.
Because the Republicans like to use it as a bargaining chip to hold everything hostage. Permanence loses that bargaining chip. So we get what we get.
Nah, the Republicans will steer it back to health care becoming the largest middle class tax hike....EVAH!
Therefore, extending the tax cut for the middle class is really buffetting against an inevitable tax hike needed to support the ACA.
And the MSM will wag their little tails and dog the newstream with that.
I am sorry Mr. Obama, the tax breaks are a bad idea. The middle class is shrinking and they know that taxes will be their only salvation. They also know that if you let the cuts expire and win the election that you should push to get tax rates back to the same level as they were in the Saint Ronald Reagan years.
You see the true price of democracy is not dumping money into a bloated military industrial complex but is paying the price to keep our people from starving or going without health care while also keeping transportation upgraded,fresh water clean enough to drink,disposing of waste in a responsible manner and we know that China is outspending us on these things and on education in an effort to take over our place as number one. It is working thanks in large part to unAmerican corporations outsourcing our jobs and hiding money from the IRS.
But then again you might be closer to the heart of the middle class since even left wingers still purr over tax cuts.
Your "Saint Ronald Reagan" pilfered the social security trust fund in order to offer the magical mystical tax cuts.
The social security trust fund is now bone dry and operating on IOUs being paid by China, and we will have to start printing money to pay debt if China stops.
I find it hard to understand why people don't connect the economic collapse with republican magical thinking that reduced US population by 3 million during the Bush administration.
Is this some kind of mass hypnosis?
Consumer demand from 3 million immigrants created enough cash flow to directly employ about 2.5 million people because of the money they spend for rent, groceries, taxes, and transportation.
3 million immigrants had to live somewhere, so they abandoned about 3 million dwellings. That consumer demand indirectly employed people in construction, real estate, and banking.
Most of the immigrants left because police stole their cars after states banned them from having drivers licenses.
The Occupy Movement and the 99% Movement exist only because about 5 million jobs shifted away from these industries and toward industries like health care and technology that require re-education and training that has not happened yet.
I don't understand the reluctance to cover this topic on news programs.
A tax rate HIGHER than the Clinton rates? SO-SHA-LIST!!!!! </snark>
Crackhead Awards- I'm not sure that you read Paul S. Campbell's post right. Eithr that, or my reading comprehension skills need a nap. Doesn't he say in the first line that the tax cuts are a bad idea? And then he talks about the things that government needs that money for? And the Saint thing was snark, no?
I think your trigger finger was a bit itchy.
AAAARRRGGGHHHH!
The proposal is not to cut taxes for every family earning $250,000 or less but for every adjusted dollar earned below $250,000.
If your family makes $250,001.50 then you get a tax cut on $250,000. If your family makes $1,00,000.00 then you get a tax cut on $250,000. If your family makes $10,00,000.00 then you get a tax cut on $250,000.
And if your family makes $50,000 you get a tax cut on $50,000.
Here's one source for Kendysdad's frustration. This is just how politics is played. No one speaks the whole truth, only that which puts them in the best or desired light. This isn't a knock on President Obama but on both sides.
People that make 250,000.50 will have an adjusted gross income of about 120,000 after deductions for mortgage payments on 2 residences, overweight vehicles like hummers, business expenses, and so on.
This tax burden actually applies to people making more than about 500,000/year in real income.
What we actually need is to add inflation to the deductions for dependents that would reduce taxes by about 12,000/dependent
We need to eliminate tax deductions for things like hummers, jet aircraft, and so on.
Crackhead, Kendysdad and the posted article is making the point that EVERYONE who pays income tax is getting the cut. Those making multi-millions still get the cut on the first 250,000 of taxable income.
That's what I'm reading anyway.
It's apparently easier to explain what a Higgs bosun is to American taxpayers than explaining how tax brackets work.
Too funny, Steve. I was listening to average radio callers trying to explain Higgs bosun and I about ran off the road laughing. I know next to nil regarding the claimed discovery but enough to know they knew less.
I am sure the Village Voice would also belly ache if they were faced with the damages caused to these girls and young women. It becomes too sickening when you know how badly women and girls get treated in this world. And some of these men who claim to be so religious, you know are the same sick bastards doing these things to these girls and women. Plus these same sick bastards that would like to send women and girls back to the stone ages with no rights, equality and freedom. Perhaps, we need to be finally thinking of some real justice like how would these men like it if they were forced into the sick bondage too many children and women have been forced into by these sick men’s behavior.
If it makes Obama look good, the GOP will oppose it. That is what they plotted to do on the very night that Obama was inaugurated.
It is a case of “Mr. President, give us what we want and do things our way or we shoot the country”. Remember the Debt Ceiling crisis?
In recent days I have seen a number of stories where Republicans are openly criticizing Mitt Romney for the incoherent message of his campaign and the vagueness of where he stands on the issues. Apparently it is the Romney strategy to keep secret as much as possible about where he stands.
This is why I applaud President Obama for taking the fight to Romney. By taking a firm and public stand on immigration, marriage equality, economic equality, and extending tax cuts for the middle class and small businesses, Obama is not only highlighting the fact that his positions on these issues are shared by the overwhelming majority of voters, but he is also forcing Romney to respond and to make his positions known.
The president must stand firm and totally oppose any hint at a "compromise" that leaves any portion of the Bush tax cuts for the rich intact. Regular working Americans know who is considered "rich," and it is not someone making a quarter-million bucks a year, plus investments, etc. These abominable tax giveaways to millionaires have been in place for over a decade, and that decade has seen the weakest economic growth in modern American history as well as the single worst recession and job loss since the Great Depression. The argument that tax cuts help the economy simply does not hold up to even cursory investigation. We needs jobs,m roads, teachers. what rich folks do not need is another few thousands in government handouts to stash in their Cayman bank accounts. http://www.sunstateactivist.org
TheActivist seems to get the point. Conservatives run on a "no tax" platform. This is not illogical to people who want to privatize the US. Why has Romney not responded to the adds disclosing his hidden assets and foreign enterprises? Because he understands that all good billionaires hide their assets and everyone with a brain should know that. If there were lower or no taxes he wouldn't have to lie about it, which would be much more convenient. If there were no taxes, no Social Security, no unemployment taxes, and no mandated health care he wouldn't be forced to off-shore his businesses where workers aren't so greedy. Further, he wouldn't have to lie to the voter worker-types who still think there entitled to these benefits just to get elected. If people would just stop picking on him and demanding his profits, he could get on with privatizing the country for the greater good. Heck, he could buy bankrupt Stockton CA get it insured by AIG and sell 75 year leases to charities all over the world as AAA rated securities. Then he could put every public employee back to work at minimum wage without benefits and make good on his campaign promises. Who needs taxes when we have global capitalism? Who needs Democracy when we have global capitalists? All we need is a global capitalist for president and we can sell Democracy before the rest of the market grabs a share.
Why is it so hard to determine who is "rich" vs. a "job creator?" Can't the tax code determine that someone making $250K owns a business and should get a tax cut? The fatigue from reading about this over and over is starting to add up.
If President Obama is bringing this up just to call attention to the Romney plan, then spell it out. I listen to the clips of his public appearances and they sound weak. Simple sound bites, please.
I'm back to thinking they're all to blame, even Obama. TRMS will never address this, but how hard has Obama actually tried to work with Congress? And what good does it do to win this election and have another 4 years of this? I believe the Republicans have gone off a cliff and should all be fired. But that's exactly what they think about the Obama.
How hard has Obama actually tried to work with Congress?
Really? Have you not heard about the new use of the filibuster? How many appointments must be logjammed? How many Republican ideas does he have to roll out and have thrown back in his face before people get the idea that the Republicans have been obstructing. They have been the road block to progress. There is no movement because they will not move. Republicans have been the force that has kept this economy from moving. After all they have done, you wonder if it is his fault for not having done enough?
The mantra should be: Republicans need to get out of the way!
I feel like a Joni Mitchell tune..
End the tax breaks and then nobody will have to sing I've looked at tax from both sides now.
This is a political fools errand because we don't have the money to operate this way.. it would be nice if somebody just said it out loud! Oh well, I can't control it, nobody can..
And then...how the media reported the President's proposal...
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/07/obama-tax-cuts-250000-bush.html?mid=383282&rid=422577105
I guess the 'bosses' were all out in the Hamptons this weekend.
if Obama Really cared what about people suffering from Cancer like my friend Shelly here in fla and tha state keeps giving her a run around on her meds..She neeeds them!!! She wasn't Living off welfare before She got Sick She was Working had Ins..then she gets breast cancer..and the battle begins Now when She Needs help no one will????? talk about Unfair!!!!!!!!!!!