Obama presser: Read my lips, no new taxes — until 2013

posted at 8:16 pm on December 6, 2010 by Allahpundit

Lileks is irritated by The One’s irritation here at having to compromise with those darned Republican troglodytes, but given how much he gave away for an unemployment extension — across-the-board tax cuts plus a payroll tax cut plus a lower estate tax rate — he had to give his base something. And a mildly peevish affectation during brief remarks counts as “something” these days, I guess.

Actually, for a guy with such an allegedly profound “messaging” problem, I thought he did a solid job here framing this as a stimulus measure. That’ll help him with centrists in the general election in 2012 (although note Lileks’s point at the link about how this sets up a debate during the campaign on taxes), but the left’s going to melt down over his betrayal of one of his core 2008 promises. In fact, take five minutes and skim through the special reaction round-up the NYT has assembled in the wake of the deal, paying special attention to the items by Dan Schnur and David Corn. Until today, I’ve never seriously thought that the “professional left” would try to primary him — they don’t care enough about Afghanistan to build a challenge on that basis alone — but to betray them on a major campaign pledge and do so by bending to the reviled Republicans might force their hand. It’s not because they necessarily want to or because they think it’d improve their chances at holding the White House, but simply because they feel obliged to flex some muscle in reaction. Exit question: What can he do for them next year to try to get back in their good graces? Change his mind about gay marriage? Go all out on amnesty? His options are limited.

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Good Grief! By what magic could the minority Republicans in both the House and Senate alter the Constitution and negate the Democratic majorities and override an Obama veto?

churchill995
Then why was Obama and company negotiating to begin with? Why didn’t the senate just pass the tax increases this past Saturday that the House voted for, and be done with it?

xblade on December 6, 2010 at 10:12 PM

That is just delusional. There is a continuum, not an either/or winner-take-all absolute here. It is naive to think you could have “negotiated” everything when you could negotiate at least something.

churchill995 on December 6, 2010 at 10:35 PM

Actually, I think the “defi Obama” was “Read my lips; taxes. will. go up.”

The promise-breaking codicil now is: “…but not until 2013, and only if you little pikers elect me a different Congress in 2012.”

J.E. Dyer on December 6, 2010 at 10:44 PM

Read my lips, -1, 2, 3 … 14 stitches.

slickwillie2001 on December 6, 2010 at 10:46 PM

Exit question: What can he do for them next year to try to get back in their good graces?

Exit Answer: Nothing.

antisocial on December 6, 2010 at 10:47 PM

GOP = Sellouts!

Tim Burton on December 6, 2010 at 11:54 PM

AP – whenever you run a story like this, you should mention that Bush had the HIGHEST approval rating after the successful attack on Afg (92% approval) that has ever been registered in the history of modern polling. The Leftist media neglected to mention this minor detail when 43 left office, only saying that he had among the lowest approval ratings upon leaving… but the key to understanding the entire War on the War on Terror is the lefist establishment in the State Dept., CIA, and Media all working together to whittle down that 92% number to something they could beat in the next round of elections, safety of the country be damned. If you want a benchmark for power corrupting absolutely, it is the Left subverting BushCo while Ground Zero was still smouldering… all so they could have a chance at keeping their jobs, their “influence,” and their invitations to ego-defining parties in the future. Disgusting.

wordwarp on December 7, 2010 at 12:33 AM

God, deliver us from this false god; now I remember why I

quit watchin TV back in the mid-late 90′s.

Thank you Algore for the Internet.

And streaming video. And

Piracy, and Global Warming.

Sorry OT.

OkieDoc on December 7, 2010 at 12:35 AM

The really interesting thing I see from reading the reactions at the NYT is this:

I finally know of some people that Obama is really smarter than!

There Goes The Neighborhood on December 7, 2010 at 1:54 AM

The professional left primary him?
Dream on.

DDT on December 7, 2010 at 2:17 AM

Primary him? How can the left find anyone further left than O? Are they planning on running dead Commies against him?Marx/Engels 2012?

Done That on December 7, 2010 at 5:21 AM

Go all out on amnesty?

Yes, that’s what Barry should spend his time on. Especially with the Republicans back in control of the House in 2011, that’s an agenda item on which Barry can expect lots of success. With unemployment in double digits and ever-expanding deficits, Americans are just going to be clamoring for amnesty for millions of uneducated, unskilled, non English-speaking, law-breaking foreigners (and unlimited numbers of their relatives) who don’t even bother to hide their contempt for us. Go for it, Barry!

AZCoyote on December 7, 2010 at 6:26 AM

Done That on December 7, 2010 at 5:21 AM

heh
i wouldn’t put it pass them

cmsinaz on December 7, 2010 at 6:30 AM

i know we say this time and again…but man would he at least have TOTUS below the camera so that he is actually talking to the american people

geesh!

cmsinaz on December 7, 2010 at 6:37 AM

xblade on December 6, 2010 at 10:12 PM

So, per xblade, anytime one sits down to negotiate, that alone is tantamount to caving. I’ll bet xblade gets rolled on a continual basis thinking that way, whether it’s negotiating over payment arrangements or negotiating with the spouse over who handles the household chores.

This is a perfectly good compromise, and even the optics are right on it. Of course, the Dem Congress can reject this out of hand….

BradSchwartze on December 7, 2010 at 9:04 AM

I wrote whitehouse.gov with my impressions of HIS arrogance. Sadly I cannot repeat them here for fear of banning because of F bombs. Does this doofus not realize that HE had HIS a$$ handed to him in Nov? Hoe can one person make us long for Hillary, Joe Bite-Me, Jimmah?

Dingbat63 on December 6, 2010 at 8:38 PM

O-bomb probably DOES realize he had his @$$ handed to him in November, which is why he caved so soon–he was AFRAID of what the Republicans would do to him once they got the House majority if taxes went up in January and people started seeing higher withholding. He’s like the Iranians who released the hostages the day Reagan was inaugurated, so they wouldn’t have to confront Reagan.

O-bomb is probably not afraid of losing the hard left–to whom would they turn? They still voted for Clinton after he “pivoted” or “triangulated” toward the center. Obama is still trying to demonize the Republicans while respecting the mandate they won from the voters, at least in the House.

If this “compromise” passes Congress, it would still be a win-win for conservatives and Republicans. If businesses are willing to hire more workers since they know their taxes won’t increase for two years, the extension of the unemployment benefits won’t cost the Government much anyway. If businesses don’t hire more workers next year, Republicans can argue that the additional costs of ObamaCare are preventing employers from hiring, and argue for full or partial repeal, and blame Obama and the Democrats if it is blocked.

If the Bush tax cuts are extended for two years, then tax hikes become an issue in 2012, with Obama trying to defend them while running for re-election. Finally, with lower (projected) revenues to the Government, the Republicans have a stronger argument for spending cuts to reduce the deficits.

Steve Z on December 7, 2010 at 9:45 AM

Screw the worries about jobs and tax rates….that is just taking us away from the real important stuff like amnesty, letting the EPA run the country and more power for the government.

/libs

search4truth on December 7, 2010 at 10:48 AM

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