Alan Grayson: Obama Tax Cut Decision 'Will Not Help His Credibility'

Outgoing Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) took aim at his Democratic colleagues and President Obama in an exit interview with The New York Times over the weekend, claiming congressional Democrats and the White House failed their left-leaning constituents in the last Congress.

From the Times:

"What did the environmentalists see over the last two years?" he asked. "A proposed monumental increase in subsidies for nuclear power industry and offshore drilling."

As for gay voters, he said: "What they got to see was a judge order that 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' no longer be enforced and a Democratic president appeal that decision. That is what that constituency saw before Nov. 2." (The law was repealed in the final hours of the 111th Congress.)

By Election Day, Democratic voters in many districts felt they had no real choice, Mr. Grayson said.

"If you want people to support you, then you have to support them," he said. "You have to think long about what you did for people who voted for you, made phone calls for you, who went door to door for you."

Grayson also took a shot at President Obama's tax cut deal, which, in allowing for an extension of Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, ran contrary to the president's campaign platform. "It will not help his credibility," said Grayson.

Despite Grayson's apparent dissatisfaction with Obama's leadership, a recent CNN poll showed the president has solidified support among Democrats with a number of last-minute legislative victories during the lame duck session of Congress.

Though Grayson himself has been floated as a potential primary challenge to Obama in 2012, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine maintained this weekend that the chances of any serious contender coming forth are "virtually nil."

Comments

[its miller time]

07:22 PM on 01/04/2011

Reality check, Grayson would never be elected President. One thing that's missing is Diplomacy a must have if you are a President. He has the fire in the belly, but that is all that is attractive about the guy as a President. And fire in the belly does not always translate in to action, support, encouragement or results in Washington as Obama has seen first hand.

[andiannj]

03:12 AM on 01/04/2011

If the chances of a primary challenger are "virtually nil", then why do they keep bringing it up?

[rougebaisers]

02:51 AM on 01/04/2011

Voters will not forget.

[Cynical Mind]

11:57 PM on 01/03/2011

Grayson IS what Obama WAS on the campaign trail:

A Liberal

The DNC better hope it stays at nill because if you give Liberals the option of voting for one of their own and a Presidential Blue Dig.......

[naschkatze]

11:10 PM on 01/03/2011

Your are 100% correct, Congressman. We will not forget, nor will it be easy for Obama to run on ending the tax cuts for the rich when he signed them into law now.

[sixchair]

10:42 PM on 01/03/2011

the gop fears grayson.

[naschkatze]

11:11 PM on 01/03/2011

You are right. That's why they made him top priority to defeat in November.

[Gymyd]

11:12 PM on 01/03/2011

I believe it was the people in his district who feared him....thus the pink slip.

[Slash14]

04:46 AM on 01/04/2011

They realized their mistake and corrected it

[sixchair]

07:41 AM on 01/04/2011

no, it's a red district that, during a previous election cycle, voted country not party.

[proud2bemoderate]

09:38 PM on 01/03/2011

How has MSNBC not hired this guy already?

[FatFeline]

11:57 PM on 01/03/2011

Olbermann does not like competition.

[Acharn]

04:49 AM on 01/05/2011

Good point. CNN really needs him more, but they seem to be down the tubes already from trying to become Fox Lite. I think MSNBC is really too right-wing for him, too, but not quite as bad. I keep wondering how those guys can bring themselves to talk about "the liberal media" when there isn't any. Then I remember they all believe Glenn Beck, too. Anyone who can believe the Affordable Care Act is a "government takeover of the health system" has drunk way too much kool-aid.

[mike dougles]

09:25 PM on 01/03/2011

Grayson 2012

[andiannj]

03:01 AM on 01/04/2011

Works for me!

[Xaviercat]

08:44 PM on 01/03/2011

Allen! Allen!! get some rest go play gulf or do that thing you do; we will see you soon tea bags can only be use in one cup of water, then it's finsh. Lots of luck and love.

[Joseph Bethea]

03:10 AM on 01/04/2011

Truth hurts don't it

[Jdaddy1951]

06:47 PM on 01/03/2011

I'm interested in seeing what office Alan Grayson decides to run for next.

[naschkatze]

11:11 PM on 01/03/2011

I'm interested in which party he runs.

[Jdaddy1951]

03:08 AM on 01/04/2011

Somehow, I don't think he'll be a Republican ...

[edrice222]

05:13 PM on 01/03/2011

I would vote for Grayson without hesitation.
In fact, I'll be doing everything I can to support him in the meantime.
He is the only one I am willing to work for and the only one I respect.
The rest of the so called democrats... the less said about them, the better.

[silk olive]

06:10 PM on 01/03/2011

x2

[andiannj]

03:02 AM on 01/04/2011

X3

[DUSAA-1775]

06:53 PM on 01/03/2011

I do not believe that he is hiring an out of congress staff, so good luck with the unemployment benefits. Write back in 99 weeks

[livesimply]

07:46 PM on 01/03/2011

"Work for" does not necessarily mean getting paid. Lots of folks do a lot of work which they don't get paid for.

[rain33]

04:56 PM on 01/03/2011

alan grayson hit it on the money! pres. obama was wrong to extend the bush tax cuts for 2 yrs yet giving the unemployed benefits for 13 months? give me a break! pres. obama should have talked to his democrat base before consulting with kfc mcconnell. pres. obama may have done more than other president regarding legislation but he has poor political tactics within his 2 yrs. grayson will be missed but he must comeback for the people!

[andiannj]

03:04 AM on 01/04/2011

And he could have at least included the 99ers.

[rain33]

06:30 AM on 01/04/2011

but some of the 99ers didn't vote for last year mid-term so we are screwed for good.

[Joseph Bethea]

03:12 AM on 01/04/2011

It depend what unemployed he thumbed his nose up to the 99ers

[LeeCalif]

04:32 PM on 01/03/2011

I put absolutely NO stock in a CNN poll.

[hobo62]

08:05 PM on 01/03/2011

Or Wall Street Journal.

[brt929]

10:27 PM on 01/03/2011

It is very odd, isn't it?  Less than a month ago, Obama's approval ratings were dropping like a rock, now overnight, he is a rock star.
 
It is kind of hard to swallow, since there are so many of us that disapprove of him giving in to the tax breaks for the very wealthy. 
 
Polls are meant to manipulate public opinion, but this is ridiculous. 

[andiannj]

03:09 AM on 01/04/2011

"Bandwagon Effect"
'The bandwagon effect has been applied to situations involving majority opinion, such as political outcomes, where people alter their opinions to the majority view (McAlliste­r and Studlar 721). Such a shift in opinion can occur because individual­s draw inferences from the decisions of others, as in an informatio­nal cascade.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwagon_effect

[Ugonna]

04:16 PM on 01/03/2011

It doesn't say when this interview happened, it would put this into perspective better. If it was before the legislative victories we saw in late December, I can understand his frustration.

[Witchitalineman]

03:59 PM on 01/03/2011

I will miss Grayson; hope he decides to run for the senate next time. I don't see how the voters in his state did not reelect him. As far as polls with Obama, I think he is losing ground. Yes the so called Lame Duck session helped him and he probably will win reelection but I still am disappointed in him and his not being more aggresive. Maybe we'll see that side of him in the next two years. If not, it is quite possible someone like a Romney could win particulary if employment and the economy for the average person don't turn around. We have such a fickle electorate.

[Watchman56]

01:49 AM on 01/04/2011

"I don't see how the voters in his state did not reelect him."

People in Florida get to much sun. It fries there brain cells.

[andiannj]

03:16 AM on 01/04/2011

'I don't see how the voters in his state did not reelect him.'
The corporate Dems threw him under the bus...
"The Democratic Congressional Committee has given up on firebrand House Rep. Alan Grayson and has stopped sending him money for his re-election campaign, states a report at National Journal's Hotline On Call."
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/democratic-gives-up-alan-grayson/