Obama's New Hardline Approach

It's a good thing that President Obama has realized that the GOP (Great Obstructionist Party) won't deal in good faith with him on any measures to boost the economy. The Rethuglicans have calculated that if the economy remains weak, they win in 2012, and they're counting on low-information voters to blame the White House, rather than to look a little deeper at who was obstructing recovery efforts. Hopefully in a sign of things to come, Obama hit the Rethug millionaire tax "class warfare" nonsense head-on yesterday in a Rose Garden speech. As the Kaplan Daily's Dana Milbank noted:

"Let us begin by stipulating that President Obama’s new budget plan is unrealistic, highly partisan and a non-starter on Capitol Hill. That’s what’s so good about it. At last, the president hasn’t conceded the race before the starter’s gun, hasn’t opened the bidding with his bottom line, hasn’t begun a game of strip poker in his boxer shorts. Whichever metaphor you choose, it was refreshing to see the president in the Rose Garden on Monday morning delivering a speech that, for once, appealed to the heart rather than the cerebrum."

Indeed. The Dems will find that the majority of the public wants tax reform and the wealthiest to pay their fair share of taxes, particularly if programs for the middle class are going to suffer more cuts. Regardless of the legislative outcome, this is a losing philosophical fight for the Rethugs, who have been exposed as the party for the economic elites at the expense of the middle class.

About Time

President Obama's press conference yesterday was refreshing. For the first time in a long time, he directly and forcefully confronted the Rethuglican lie machine's position on the debt ceiling and budget. He repeatedly contrasted the Dem position of a balance of budget cuts and revenue increases / closing tax loopholes with the Rethug position of budget cuts only, using some vivid images of corporate jet loopholes and CEOs rolling in money. Referring to Rethugs having to speak to their constituents, Obama said:

“I think it would be hard for the Republicans to stand there and say that, 'The tax break for corporate jets is sufficiently important that we’re not willing to come to the table.'”

We say let's make them justify protecting the wealthiest Americans, who are paying the lowest tax rate in decades, and big corporations, which are sitting on $2 trillion in cash while exporting jobs and collecting tax breaks. Enough with the kid gloves.

It's good to see Obama more in campaign mode than the above-the-fray peacemaker, simply because the Rethugs aren't looking for "peace" or "compromise" or "solutions." They're looking to defeat Obama in 2012, and if it takes bringing the economy to its knees, then they'll do it.