And of course, according to them, President Obama was now defined as a "caver" who was certainly going to give in again on their extension in 2 years.
Fast forward to the debt ceiling deal last summer. The immediate reaction of the puritan left was to once again assume that the President and Democrats had caved. None of them believed they would actually stick to the defense cuts that were part of the deal scheduled to kick in Jan. 1, 2013. They all simply assumed that President Obama gave up the store.
But it sure seems to me like someone had a plan all along.
Today, with promises in the background from the President to veto Republican attempts to restore defense spending, Senator Patty Murray made clear the Democrats weren't budging.
“If Republicans won’t work with us on a balanced approach, we are not going to get a deal,” Murray said in Washington, D.C. at the Brookings Institution. “Because I feel very strongly that we simply cannot allow middle class families and the most vulnerable Americans to bear this burden alone.”Basically the message is that they're willing to let all the Bush tax cuts expire on Jan. 1, 2013 AND let the cuts agreed to in the debt ceiling deal (including $55 billion per year in defense spending) go forward unless the Republicans actually come to the table and negotiate a balanced approach.
“So if we can’t get a good deal, a balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share, then I will absolutely continue this debate into 2013 rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle class families under the bus,” she said.
In other words, the tables have turned...the Democrats now feel like they have the leverage.
Some of those who have been screaming about President Obama's supposed lack of negotiation skills are today talking about that leverage - or the Democrat's advantage at this point. But they're failing to correct their own mistakes in missing the reason we got here.
Some of us saw it coming all along.
I hate to say I told you so, but...I told you so.
;-)
I hope you are right, up but time will.
ReplyDeleteI'm already right.
DeleteI didn't predict the outcome of these negotiations - simply that the Dems were going to have the leverage they needed to actually push Reps into negotiations. That's what's happening.
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ReplyDeleteYes, our president DOES play elentyfifth dimensional chess. The hyper-ventilators scoff at that basic truth, but the scoffing does little to change the reality of it.
ReplyDeleteThat's what some people - including the screeching emos on the left - still don't get about President Obama; he plays the long game.
ReplyDeleteIt's why Mitt Romney has problems now. He tacked so far to the right that he will have difficulty moving to the middle. He also was dumb enough not to get his tax forms issues in order when he decided to run for president 4 years ago. Mitt's a short term thinker. Foolish.