Obama's Most Harmful Broken Promise? Doing The Right Thing On Taxes

He vowed he'd do the wrong things, and contended mightilly to do so.

Now with the economy in tatters at least partly due to his mismanagement, he attempts to do the right thing, because he's all out of wrong things.

Here’s a theory: Obama said, “What the hell.” Once he knew he had to give in, and would get criticized for giving in, he figured he might as well go whole hog. The whole deal seems designed to test conservative arguments about how best to help the economy right now, with the understanding that if the economy improves markedly as a result, he will get more credit for his role from the independents he lost so decisively in the 2010 election. And if it doesn’t, then the GOP will be in the position he was in this year in relation to the stimulus — their desired policy won’t have worked either, and he won’t get blamed for acceding to political reality in going along with it.

Paul Krugman and the Nation and Moveon.org were going to be enraged no matter what compromise he struck. So…what the hell. Go long. Try the Hail Mary. Nothing Barack Obama could have done indicates just how empty his own economic policy quiver is.

Over at Huffington Post, commenters are surprisingly open to Obama's "bold, relentless experimentation."

Open? Oh wait, I meant openly deranged.

I3addog—Obama’s nothing more than a shill for big business. Sold out once again. I have never regretted a Presidential vote as much as this one. Go ahead. Unfan me.

...

Mea25—In 2 words: hope shattering. Remember “HOPE”? Was $arah right? I think she was. I feel sick and violated.

...

Richard Dial—This is awful. The Audacity of Hope indeed. I am disappointed yet again by the timidity of this President, for whom I was so very excited and for whose presidency I had such high hopes. Who’s going to run against him in 2012? I need to start contributing now…

Tribal Knowledge—I wanna play poker with Obama. I need the money.

Belogical2010—What a contrast, Julian Assange standing tall against all the ev*l power of the world gov’t and he’s getting arrested. then we got Wimp Bama trying to convinces us he’s done a great job again. This victory is right up their with saving the economy and healthcare

foxinretreat—CLASS WARFARE and some civil unrest , brewing in a neighborhood near you. Hey oligarchs how it turns out is anybody’s guess. I hope Wikileaks unleashes its info on the banks ASAP, I could care less if WS has to tank to stop this madness.

More quotes at the link.

I like the bit about "$arah" being right.

At Hot Air, a quote from Charles Hurt, suggesting that Obama really might be a one-termer after all.

The left is apoplectic that their savior would turn around on them and adopt Bush’s most “draconian” tax policies that “only favor the rich.”

If they were frustrated before, now they are palpably angry and publicly voicing their disillusionment with Obama.

Without those voters rocking with enthusiasm, Obama could not have won in 2008.

Now, ask yourself this question: How many people do you know who voted for Obama in 2008 but now express regret about the vote or reservations about his leadership?

Probably plenty.

Now ask yourself this: How many people do you know who voted against Obama in 2008 but have since been won over?

Probably not a single one.

All that math adds up to a very lonely number: One, as in One Term.

That said, businesses/markets/banks are likely to gain some confidence from this deal, and that means that money that's been sitting out and being hoarded might start being spent and invested. That would help Obama a bit, but it would also help the Republicans, and probably more, since any recovery that happens from this point forward can be credited to Republican ideas and Republican governance.

posted by Ace at 12:47 PM

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