Anger Management

OK, so now we know Obama can get angry.  Remarkably, however, his anger is not directed towards the Republican Party, which boxed him into a corner where he believed the only way out was to cave on tax cuts he previously opposed.  No, he is angry at the left for not giving him more credit for making the deal.  How utterly depressing.

With a struggling economy and persistently high unemployment, the Republicans insist on passing the continuation of tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans, and will not govern until they get it.  They refuse to permit an extension of expiring unemployment benefits and effectively stymie critical and popular legislation in the remaining days of the lame duck session -- including extending a middle class tax cut, ratifying the START treaty, repealing DADT, passing the DREAM Act, and providing medical insurance for 9/11 responders.  So, to placate the Republicans, President Obama capitulates and gives them their tax cut, and for good measure throws in a waiver of the estate tax for estates worth up to $5 million dollars, in order to get the middle class tax cut and an unemployment benefit extension.  The deal will increase the deficit by 700-to-900 billion dollars and have minimal stimulative effect.  Republicans are positively gleeful over these developments while liberals are angry and disappointed because they believe Obama's negotiated settlement was neither good politics nor good policy.  The President then gives a press conference where he defends the deal, insists that it will be good for the economy, and reserves most of his ire for the left.  He condescendingly calls them "sanctimonious" for cleaving to a "purist position" in order to "feel good" about themselves, completely discounting that liberals oppose his compromises because they are unfair and ineffective.

As demoralizing as it is to see Obama reveal so explicitly his disdain for the left, it is heartening that there are still many principled and passionate Democrats who are not meekly going along with Republican blackmail and Presidential post-partisanship or whatever it is.  While Obama claims he will live to fight another day, what would have happened if, this time, he had used his formidable rhetorical skills to make the political points and trenchant analysis of the progressives and populists speaking out against the tax cut deal, such as Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York and Sen Bernie Sanders of Vermont, as well as incoming the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Raul Grijalva of Arizona).  And what would happen if the Democrats actually scuttled what is derisively being referred to as the McConnell-Obama Plan?

[Related posts: No Se Puede, Holy Pointless Gimmick, Batman, Growth is Good, This Should Be Easy, Let 'Em Eat Catfood, Greider on Obama, Must Read: Paul Krugman]