So what if the Republican controlled house sends over a lousy tax bill next year?

Do Democrats still not have a majority in the Senate where the legislation is put through the sausage grinder?

Then don't we have a Democratic President, who could possibly, threaten a veto of any bill that extends the Bush tax cuts to the upper 1% who own 25% of the wealth?

I know this would mean someone would have to take a stand on principle, but it could be done, couldn't it?

You could still, next year, make the Republicans look like greedy uncaring corporate whoremasters who want to withold unemployment insurance and give money to the corporations and their wealthy friend yacht owners and private leer jet flyers.

I believe it is an fight that could be won if one were willing to go to bat for the majority in this country. The majority who does not want to have our money stolen from us via back channels to the wealthiest 1% of this country.

middle-class cuts?

After all, who creates the jobs.

come on. It's a worthwhile battle and one that could be won.

I guess what you are saying is that it should continue on as business as usual.

I think you misread my post

There is a good chance that some of the Democratic senators will vote for it. What should Obama do then?

...another John Kerry moment

took their options to fight this off the table.

That is why Obama owns this.

I hope and pray the house will truly rebel. I doubt they will, but they should.

I don't know. He does have a 'D', but seriously, I don't know where he stands at this point. There is certainly no indication that this administration will fight back on anything. His whole presidency, right from the inauguration, has been about accommodating Republicanism.

to vote along Republican lines. While I prefer that the Obama tax deal go down in flames because of the tax cuts for the wealthy, and the purposeful poison pill for Social Security in the form of the payroll tax holiday that it contains, I am also pretty sure that the DLC Dems will enable most GOP efforts in the Senate.

block and place holds and do whatever it takes, I guess, just like the minority does now. Then they can really be in charge.

I know that some of the options are not ideal, but if the president threatened a veto it would be a game changer.

And if the Democrats got a message it would also be a game changer.

The problem I keep wrestling with is that because some of the above is not done, I keep coming to the conclusion that the end result and what we have been getting is the plan.

This is not rocket science.

This will relieve him in many ways of having to fight it with the new congress and "get things done".

With what Bernie Sanders did yesterday. He was the "sacrificial lamb" in a way; left up there to show America that there are people in Washington who care about the middle to lower class too. In the days to come we will see what kind of an impact that had for Americans. Perhaps this will send the message that we WANT them to fight harder for us and this past election was not about us wanting GOP representation.

I think that January will bring us a completely different democratic mindset and perhaps it took them getting this FURIOUS about such an important issue to get them to stand in solidarity for our benefit. They will need this "fuel" next month when they are met with the crazy wall that is the new GOP congress.

No matter how this ends up, it may have been the best thing that could have happened for us. It may have given them the backbone that we have been begging them to find for the past 6 months.

I think its important to let them know that we support them getting stronger and more united and that we will support them at election time, and then we need to get out there and actually support them for the coming 2012 election. Because if you think 2010 was brutal, we ain't seen nothing yet if we don't get around the corporations being people law.

Annette

i could care less if *nothing* the republicans in congress want gets done in the next two years.

yes, virginia, i ain't ready to make nice -- i'm ready to make (political) war. i'm done. time to (metaphorically) rip some republican heads off and place them on pikes around the gate.

done. time to start spreading the pain and panic among all classes. absolutely done. you're either an american willing to share and sacrifice for a common good cause, or you're an un-american piece of sh!t that needs to be horse whipped into obedience.

(love, peace, and light, and all that. O8) )

If not, go with your plan and lot's of luck. If you do want to get some things done, you are going to have to negotiate deals that both sides can live with. That means we get some things; we give up some things and they do the same. Without that, nothing will happen and two years of gridlock would be a terrible thing for the country.

That is going to be reality for the next 2 years. You (and many others at DU) need to accept that - it's not going to change.

enacted (that I can think of anyway) from this next Congress. EVERY FUCKING REPUBLICAN IDEA IS DOA AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED. Letting Obama rule by executive order is NOT anywhere near ideal, but it's better than enacting ANYTHING that the Republican House will pass.

Filibuster it ALL!

(i'm sure we could go farther back in history, but post-Reagan I am utterly convinced all their ideas have been shit.)

so why on earth would i care to let any of them pass?

:shrug:

the fucking thing.

The Republicans have given us a roadmap to defeat shit we don't like. USE IT!

-Laelth

Will he?

President Obama is smarter then the rest of us. This enables him to filter all the options and make the best choice for us all. He developed his compromising skills as a junior Senator in the Illinois State Congress as the Republicans had complete control at that time. Hopefully he will realize that compromise at the national level has a far greater consequence and he will come to his senses on his latest proposal.