In his inaugural address, John Kennedy said, "Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate." JFK was referring to US deliberations with Russia, but his words apply to the current political reality. President Obama's tax cut "deal" was negotiated out of fear.
The president knows this. In his December 7th Press conference Obama acknowledged: "...the middle-class tax cuts were being held hostage to the high-end tax cuts. I think it's tempting not to negotiate with hostage-takers, unless the hostage gets harmed...In this case, the hostage was the American people and I was not willing to see them get harmed."
Like so many of his excuses, Obama's explanation doesn't hold up. This "hostage-taking" didn't happen suddenly; the Republican hostage takers didn't burst into the Oval Office with a bomb and announce: "Either you continue the Bush tax cuts for millionaires or this place is dust." For months, Barack Obama knew that Republicans were cutthroats, who wouldn't hesitate to hold the working people of America hostage in order to secure a tax-cut "ransom" for the rich and powerful. Obama saw the hostage-taking coming but did nothing to prevent it.
There's a familiar Aesop fable about a farmer who finds a viper freezing in the snow, takes pity on it, picks it up and places it within his coat. Revived by the warmth, the snake gives his rescuer a fatal bite and the farmer cries out, "I should have seen this coming!"
The apt metaphor for the president's tax cut deal wasn't hostage taking, but the farmer who takes in the viper. Obama knew he was dealing with snakes and should have seen what was coming. For the last two years, Republicans have been incredibly candid about their intent to do everything possible to thwart his administration. Nonetheless, ignoring the wise counsel of Progressives, the President took in the vipers and cut an unsavory tax deal. But it was the American people who got bitten.
The moral of Aesop's fable is "kindness is wasted on evil." You and I know this. It's street wisdom. And Progressives understand that Conservatives are all about greed, they are hell bent on installing a plutocracy. So why doesn't President Obama understand this? Why didn't he recognize that he was dealing with snakes before he placed them in his coat?
There are two harsh explanations: Barack Obama is either incredibly naïve or he is terminally conflict averse. I don't believe Obama is naïve. Sadly, the experience of the last two years indicates that he will do anything to avoid a fight.
Negotiating out of fear is bad practice, in general, but wildly inappropriate in an era where Progressives are battling to maintain Democracy in America. In September, new Census figures showed that the income gap between America's richest and poorest was the widest on record. Recently Senator Bernie Sanders accused Republicans of waging a "war" against the working families of America. If the Obama tax cut "deal" stands, the rich will have won another major battle.
So what should you and I do about this?
The first step is to do everything we can to kill the current tax-cut "deal." Call our Senators and Representatives and tell them to block the bill unless Republicans compromise.
But our larger mission is to rebuild the Progressive movement with recognition that the President needs "tough love." If we're going to make progress in the war against working families, then Progressives will have to provide Obama with backbone at every step. The past two years have provided one example after another of where Obama pulled away from a fight, claimed he was protecting us from "hostage-takers." That has to stop, there's too much at stake.
The bad news is that Progressives worked hard to elect Barack Obama, who turned out to be a President who negotiates with vipers. The good news is that we now know who are dealing with and have two years to take corrective action.
Martin Luther King Jr. once observed: "Normal fear protects us; abnormal fear paralyses us. Normal fear motivates us to improve our individual and collective welfare; abnormal fear constantly poisons and distorts our inner lives. Our problem is not to be rid of fear but, rather to harness and master it."
Progressives should be fearful about the economy, and more generally, the survival of democracy in America. Our problem is not to be rid of fear -- to attempt to negotiate with snakes -- but rather to harness and master this fear. I am confident we can do this, with or without Barack Obama.
HuffPost TV: Howard Fineman On 'Hardball': 'Substance And Music' To Romney's Tax Deal Opposition
HuffPost TV: Arianna Talks Tax Cut Deal On 'Morning Joe' (VIDEO)
The bad news turned out to be that he rolls over on the items on which he campaigned and for which we elected him to handle. We even gave him a majority in both houses in order to do it, and what we heard was that there are no votes to do it. The Dems are still in the majority even as we speak, say what?
The guy is a corporate shill. And he does absolutely nothing to help out the Democratic Party and us adherents to Democratic principles.
Wish the DNC would just tell him to get the eff out of the way so that we could run a real Democrat in 2012.
A Republican and a Democrat both find themselves needing to get across the river, but there was no bridge and the Republican could not swim. After some negotiation, the Democrat agreed to swim and tow the Republican. When they reached the middle of the river, the Republican pulled a knife and stabbed the Democrat in the chest. "Why?" asked the Democrat. "Now we both will drown!". "Because I am a Republican and you are a Democrat!" said the Republican.
START Treaty: Vital to National Security
DADT: Ending Discrimination in the military
DREAM ACT: Not a solution to Immigration, but a start although Reid put a hold on the vote in the Senate, but these Obstructionist still vowed not to vote on anything until the RCH GET THEIR TAX BREAKS
These people are a DISGRACE TO THE HUMAN RACE !!!!
The legislative branch, Congress, drafts and passes the laws, the executive branch, the President, signs or vetoes laws, and the judicial branch, headed by the Supreme Court, makes sure that the laws that are passed are actually valid, as per their interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Congress is chosen by the people, the President is chosen by the electoral college, which works to declare the will of the people, and the Supreme Court, in addition to the rest of the courts, are filled with people, nominated by the President and screened by the Congress, both chosen by the people, who are then given their entire lifetime in said position, to be allowed to function, operate, and interpret our will of law, in a way that holds to how they see our Founding Documents. Government theory 101.
Congress, the branch responsible for drafting an passing all legislation, is composed of two seperate chambers, the House, a body of 435 representatives where 50% +1 vote is needed to pass anything, and the Senate, a body of 100 representatives, where debate on any issue requires 60 votes for completion and 50% and the President of the Senate, typically the VP, is needed to pass anything.
With the American people sending "vipers" to Congress, the reality still stands that the rules of Congress still hold, with "viper's" votes counting just the same.
The rules of the game have definitely evolved over time, but they are still the same clear rules that have existed, for the most part, since this country's founding.
Congress crafts laws, the President signs laws, and the Supreme Court judges whether the laws are valid or not.
60 votes to end debate on any bill in the Senate. 50 votes and the Vice President to pass any bill in the Senate, 218 votes, or a majority of the House, to pass a bill in the House of Representatives. The base rules have never been clearer, in my opinion, and they haven't been more clear to this many people in some time.
If you want to sit at home about it, so be it. The rest of the country, from the local community groups to the Koch brothers, are going to throw themselves in the fray, and actually try to do something about it.
And that means actually getting involved, for example helping out candidates, like Rep. Patrick Murphy(D-PA), who stuck their necks out, on issues that likely didn't pertain specifically to them or their constituents but called to their moral cores, rather than just sitting in front of the TV, crying about how "corporate America has bought our government", when you don't even have the decency to particpate.
A short answer that stops many questions ... this I can apply in my own life.