Stop your bitchin' guys.

Obama compromised. He got extended benefits for the unemployed, a cut in the payroll tax, and other goodies. And in return, the Repubs got a 2-year extension on tax cuts for the stinky rich.

Yes, it hurts to see our prez bend to the Repubs, time and again. But what if he hadn't? There was no way in heck that any tax cuts for the middle class would pass alone. The votes are not there. And what about the unemployed?

What hurts more?

Giving in to the Repubs' top demand or winning a spitting contest and then seeing the unemployed and middle class suffer?

Obama as he said today is not an idealist. He never will be. And sometimes that stinks. But pragmatism most often gets something done. It gets a heckuva lot more done than the far right and left bashing each other with no meaningful results that impact people, not our sanctimonious commitment to ideology.

And this country is in such terrible shape that he MUST get something DONE.

:shrug:

K&R

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Seems some are hell bent on illustrating just how right POTUS was today, when he talked about those who sanctimoniously demand purity only to end up denying progress along the way.

They have been blocking everything. This is a compromise by the repubs as well. The repubs didn't get what they wanted. They wanted the tax cuts to be permanent and Obama stood his ground on this because he was saying he wouldn't go with a permanent tax cut for the wealthy. Spin this the way you want, but you may as well be on the repubs side when you do.

edit - misspelled permanent. Since the edit came after someone responded.

:thumbsup:

No worries, it all comes out in the wash.:hi:

"And this country is in such terrible shape that he MUST get something DONE."

MORE STARVING OF THE BEAST doesn't accomplish anything!

"seeing the unemployed suffer"... you mean ALL the unemployed, or just the ones who will covered in this "deal".

What hurts more is now we have Democrats helping Republicans to wage full class warfare against the middle class.
A short term gain for "some" unemployed, with a long term loss -- the deficit explosion, which will prevent any more stimulus programs -- which is the REAL WAY to create jobs.

We got snookered. Sit back and watch your children's future get spent by Obama.

the Republicans use the line "Spend our children's future".....
and apparently, so do you!

The REPUBLICANS are going to use the "deficit explosion" point again and again.

And they are going to blame Obama for raising the deficit too!

And no chance on any NEW stimulus programs for the next two years, that would hurt the deficit. We need to "cut back" on spending to pay for these Obama tax cuts!

Obama set his own trap.

in an economic crisis.

I agree with Krugman. But now Obama just sealed the fate of any new stimulus programs.
Instead of stimulus programs, we GAVE AWAY tax cuts to the rich, and we already know that doesn't create jobs.

"which is the REAL WAY to create jobs" -- my original post.

How is the UI extension something the GOP didn't want?

It amazes me how many people just buy into the spin.

There is a reason to fight, even if there is no way to win.

Fighting allows you to use the bully pulpit to teach the country what Democrats stand for. When you fight, you lay a marker down for history, too.

Going straight to compromise without a full-on public fight deprives the national conversation of content on the differences between the parties.

..like giving away billions in tax cuts to get a relative pittance in unemployment benefits. Like continuing the wars overseas. Like continuing to torture and hold prisoners indefinitely without trial. Like throwing gays under the bus.

My "sanctimonious commitment to ideology" is that our government is designed to help the common person. Instead, it is being used as a fulcrum by the worst elements of elite society to enrich themselves and disenfranchise the American people. This is not a disagreement over whether we should fund program X: the very nature of our system is at stake. Obama has clearly declared which side he's on in the class war.

IF---that is all that we are trying to accomplish, we can succeed beyond our wildest dreams.

I'm sure Mr. McConnell and Mr. Boehner, with the help of new friends like Rubio and Paul, would be happy to provide a list of "somethings" that would get 100% of the GOP votes. With our new love of compromise, we could really "get something done", things like making the Bush tax cuts even lower for the millionaires AND making them permanent---

---and just stopping this unemployment compensation nonsense that rewards laziness---

---and making homosexuality a crime---

---and making property ownership a prerequisite to the right to vote---

I could go on, but you get the picture. If "getting something done" is all you want, the GOP will be the most "bipartisan" bunch of sons-o'-bitches that ever stunk up Congress.

Why do you have to be so smart and all?

You're gonna put a tear in the sockdrawerunderground.com Obama-is-evil-space-time-continuum that we have going on here.

will soar. And in two years the repubs will take aim at social security - not taxes. Trashing unemployment insurance will be a forgone conclusion.

The point is when you give up two to get almost one, you will eventually have nothing.

and he just added a few more trillion to the deficit. That'll fix it. Right?

edited to add:

as "dear Sid" would say: unrec

Can't blame you a bit.

It IS the next step in dismantling Social Security.
De-funding Social Security IS a Republican wet dream.

The Republicans gave Obama a penny, and he handed over a dollar......
and you call this a "Good Deal"????