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The deficit reduction plan President Obama vaguely outlined yesterday lacks basic credibility. The problem isn’t that the math doesn’t add up–it is at least a dramatic improvement over Republican Paul Ryan’s plan, which literally defies logic and basic math. This issue is that many of the reductions President Obama promised yesterday come from actions that he has been promising for years, yet when the opportunity came up to fulfill them, he actively violated his word.
In the speech, Obama again promised huge deficit reductions from both letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those making over $250,000, and fixing Medicare Part D by allowing Medicare to directly negotiate for lower drug prices. We are supposed to believe he will fight for these despite having laid down on both before.
Bush tax cuts for the rich
At no time during the past two years did Obama use his large Democratic majorities in Congress to push through a bill ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Finally, when all the tax cuts were set to expire, instead of holding the line, he claimed he had no other option but to make a deal to extend them all. Obama has made no indications why the next fight about the Bush tax cuts won’t end in an identical broken promise.
Direct Medicare drug price negotiations
Passing direct Medicare drug price negotiation was a huge campaign point for Democrats in 2006 and for Obama in 2008. Yet, during the health care reform fight, which would have been the prefect time to pass it, the provision disappeared.
In fact, Obama made a secret deal with the drug companies in which he promised to actively fight against allowing this core campaign promise from becoming law. The administration’s diligent efforts to kill drug re-importation, another promise broken by the secret deal, shows how open Obama was to violating his campaign promises to keep PhRMA happy.
To quote another president: “Fool me once, shame on–shame on you. Fool me–you can’t get fooled again.”
It just isn’t credible to believe that Obama’s new promises about these two issues. Not after he previously made them repeatedly, only to break his word when he had the chance to fulfill them.
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You forgot billions in savings from making IPAB more powerful…
and tax reform (which supposedly nets $1T).
As George Carlin said, “Corporations don’t want that. That doesn’t help them.” Inmelt said as much the other day when he explained what business really means by tax reform is making foreign profits tax-free.
Obama’s wish list is just as fantastical as what Ryan’s proposing.
Exactly Jon. Been there, done that. I bought BO’s bullshit before. I’m not venturing down his deceitful road again!
Amen.
He made those promises to have something to compromise away later on. Plus, of course, he wants the public to believe that his pretty speeches come from a wonderful man that has the best interests of the country at heart when in reality his empty empathetic words don’t mean jackshit and come from a duplicitous low-life liar.
Z
Whenever I hear that Obama will make another speech, I am reminded of the title of David Sedaris’s wonderful book, “Me Talk Pretty One Day”
Ooooh, there’s a news flash.
Love that book! And that Sedaris family is crazy good. crazy and good.
Even better! To quote Virginia Foxx: “Fool me once, shame you. Fool me twice, shame on you!”
Also.
(I have a very special place for David’s book, having gone to speech therapy for my own lisp for years. I can say S seventeen different ways depending on where it appears in the word or sentence!)
WH fellow was on radio explaining why O was still credible – said he really really meant meant what he said prior to Dec 2010, but “not caving would have been irresponsible in a 10% UE world” –
I had to laugh :-)
Jon is clearly forgetting the time that O pushed EFCA through Congress. /alternative history
The tax cuts for the rich will be extended. I’d bet a week’s pay on it.
“Not on my watch!”
So he caved to improve the economy? I must’ve been asleep when the economy got better
All the markings of typical abusive behavior.
It’s what the Democrats have been dishing out for years. First the promises then the betrayal and then more promises.
The solution to an abusive relationship is to get out rather than to believe in change on the part of the abuser.
Fool me once, shame on you, Barack Obama. Sorry but all the hopeful wishing that President Obama is candidate Obama, just doesn’t make it so. He had a super majority and did nothing with it.
I think this is revisionist history about not repealing Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. As I recall, it was House democrats (!) who refused to vote to end the Bush tax cuts before November, because the vulnerable democrats didn’t want to jeopardize their election chances (not much good that did…). Thus, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. You can blame Pelosi and/or Reid as easily as Obama. It’s not like Obama wouldn’t have immediately signed the bill if it had come to his desk.
@Wagthedog: Regarding doing “nothing” with a supermajority. If you call ACA, finance reform, GM bailout, DADT repeal, equal pay act doing “nothing”, then I’d hate to hear what you have to say what your criticism would be of past democratic presidents. Let’s see…ACA (Clinton nope; Carter nope; Johnson did do Medicare though); financial reform (Clinton: nope–he actually gutted regulations by repealing Glass Steagall; Carter nope; nope nope nope all the way back to 1930s). If Obama was a do-nothing president in his first two years, I’m curious to hear how many presidents in the last 50 years did as much in their first two years.
And those supermajorities had at least a little to do with coat-tails, so it’s unclear if their presence in 2008 is something he shouldn’t get at least a little credit for.
He even relapsed from his original good decision to get rid of McChry. So was would he want him back? Nonsense.
obama is now in campaign mode; just look at the speech promising what he promised before, or, at least, implied. obama has a record to look at as President, and it is not one to inspire confidence in follow-through. I’m not even bothering to look at his big talk and lack of walk as a Senator. Anyway, the relook at the bushobama tax cuts is two years away and he figures that he can come up with some way to wiggle out by then.
I happened to hear about five minutes of Randi Rhodes tonight. The caller was critiquing the speech. She had to agree with the caller that there were problems in the past, but now he was surely on the right road because the speech outlined the right things. Another obamabot, I guess.
If he’d kept his campaign promises in 2009, he’d still have a majority in both houses. All his compromising just digs his hole deeper.
Not to mock domestic violence, but this guy is the “Honey I won’t hit you again!” of presidents. If progressives, especially young people, take him back, I won’t be there with a shoulder to cry on when he lets you down again.
I won’t be your Virginia Foxx.
Obama lies. Period. Get used to it and get over it.
@PJEvans-You argue that democrats losing seats was because Obama didn’t keep his ‘campaign promises’. I’d strongly disagree, both that the democrats could have avoided losing lots of seats, and that Obama kept fewer promises than prior democratic presidents.
Regarding losing seats: 1. Unemployment is the most predictive variable in how parties do in elections, and even though Bush was responsible for the financial collapse, since democrats were at the helm in 2010 the democrats were going to get hammered; and, more generally, 2. It’s pretty much a rule that the president’s party loses seats in the midterm of their first term (interestingly, Bush was a rare exception, b/c popularity went up with Iraq war, ironically).
Regarding keeping promises: 1. I just can’t hammer this point enough–by any fair standard, Obama is easily way above average in keeping promises. As passover approaches, I would joke, if Obama had only passed ACA, it would have been enough. Again, for comparison, all Clinton did in his first year was fail to pass healthcare reform, but I’m willing to guess you didn’t think that he was a horrible sleaze ball as a result. If financial reform had happened, only, it would have been enough. GM, DADT repeal, federalizing student loans, etc., etc..
Now, is Gitmo open? Yes. And there are other things I’m disappointed in. But I’m saying use fair standards. He got some major major legislation through. Give him a break. If you are going to demanding perfection, then at least admit there hasn’t been a good enough president since Lincoln. And even Lincoln was hated by abolitionists at the time for compromising too much (Lincoln started out his presidency saying he would allow the southern states to maintain slavery in perpetuity, and that his only demand was that it not be allowed in the new states).
I feel like this infighting is so harmful to the democratic party. Take yes for an answer.
One nuance from his speech regarding Bush Tax Cuts.
“The fourth step in our approach is to reduce spending in the tax code. In December, I agreed to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans because it was the only way I could prevent a tax hike on middle-class Americans. But we cannot afford $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire in our society. And I refuse to renew them again.”
He refers to not allowing tax cuts for the wealthiest and how hard he tried to stop them. But “we cannot afford” and I emphasize the “we” and how brave he will be when ” (I) refuse to renew them”
It seems that the only way he can possibly do this is by letting all Bush Tax Cuts expire and thereby the “we” comes into play and all taxes revert back to Clinton Rates.
So forget that Progressive thing and let’s all pitch in so now the Republicons can run on Obama is going to raise taxes on everyone.
Correct me if I’ve missed something.
Amy’s new book “Crafting for Poor People” (something like that) is hysterical!
Why keep stating the obvious? I’m afraid until Obama cuts SS and Medicare, his true believers are going to keep insisting what a great guy he is and if only the ______ (fill in the blank) hadn’t obstructed his agenda, he would have done what he promised.
Interesting – but a false comparison with Clinton
First Clinton actually tried to pass items of interest to the left – he did not pretend to favor while working against passage (as in the public option).
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_bill_clinton%27s_accomplishments_while_in_office
First Two years passed:
February 5, 1993 – The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
August 10, 1993 – Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993: Raised income tax rates; income tax, top rate: 39.6%; corporate tax: 35%
September 21, 1993 – creation of the AmeriCorps volunteer program
November 30, 1993 – Brady Bill
September 13, 1994 – Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act: (see Federal assault weapons ban)
Failed on:
Health care reform
Campaign finance reform (1993)
Stopped the Congress from putting into law Reagans ban on gays in the military by getting DADT passed.
And he did the above in a Congress where the GOP plus blue dogs actually controlled the Senate – not like the situation that Obama had where the blue dogs only stopped the Dems from getting 60 votes.
As to mid-term losses always happening – yes – true – but the expected number of changed seats was 20 to 25. Obama maximized the disaster.
The middle class, or working Americans have been talked into voting for the “homesy” and likable policies of Reagan by FOX which began while he was in office. It provided his biggest fan base, and the primary reason he is the cult idol of the gullible, ignorant, and uninformed, in addition to the GOP.
I just don’t think we pay enough attention to how much influence/dammage FOX and the 24/7 radio personalities have done to the base of the Democratic party. Add to that the Christian born again, fundamentalists preachers, and we are getting it coming and going.
We have something like 500 splintered progressive groups, each speaking independently of one another, each gathering support and donations, and signatures, thereby diluting their and our voices. We need to be presenting our strongest front, united, to counteract the only voice middle class America is hearing today,
THAT is why these primarily uninformed voters are voting against themselves, they have not heard, UNTIL THIS YEAR IN WISCONSIN that this is what they have been doing! And where are all our progressive groups? Why aren’t there 300 – 400 out there united with all those workers, organizing with them, with the AFL-CIO, and finally getting through to working America that Progressives are pro working Americans???
We don’t have a 24/7 mouth piece, but we also don’t have organized progressive groups, and it is looking an awful lot like we are spitting in the wind. This is our time. Workers are beginning to catch on, because their jobs and unions are being threatened. If we got our acts together, and joined together, we could get this thing going from the ground up. The numbers of votes still beats money every time. Which is the power BO had going into office, but didn’t use, or apparantly appreciate at the time. My question is, will Progressives see and take advantage of this time that is in front of them now?
!
#200 – Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:30 AM EDT
have to agree.
will be interesting to see how long obama can duck the question of whether he’s willing to raise taxes on everyone.
So Jon, if you’re not going to be fooled again I assume that means you will be working to elect somebody else in 2012. Is that correct? I sure hope not only you, but all of FDL will get behind a 3rd candidate…
If not, fool me twice…
Fool me for the sixth time, if you go back to Diebold and the 2000 election. And that’s where we are at, still. I don’t think primarying or third partying are going to do any good unless and until we fix the apparatus of voting which allows votes to be stolen with impunity and recounts to become impossible to do. We only have to look at the judge race in Wisconsin; they are not trying to hide their shenanigans now. Elections mean nothing to this gang of thieves.
I realize it is very, very hard to face these problems, but I would remind folk that when we first began to mutter about the machines, the mainstream media refused to cover any of it. And once they the corporates knew they could steal votes and get away with it, we the people lost any chance of deciding any issue. I truly believe this.
But just the same, there is an energy out there which was expressed as we did vote our ideals to elect Obama and attempted in the 2010 election to demonstrate our disappointment with him. These were clear signals which nobody, and I do mean nobody, in government wanted to or was able to respond to. That energy IS going somewhere, and I for one am optimistic that we the people will find our way out of this mess. I don’t expect anything from Obama now – far too little, and far too late. But his defeat will be the strongest signal that can be sent by a people that isn’t going to take it any longer.
In general, I agree with you. However, Obama may have eventually realized that he has so little credibility with his base that he has to DO some thing. But, I am not holding my breath for that to happen….
He didn’t mention anything about closing offshore tax shelter loopholes for corporations. That could reduce the debt another one trillion dollars in a decade. Oh I forgot, his jobs commission czar is one of the leading tax evaders. It’s all crap.
Hollow is the right word, Jon. To me, of all the broken promises, these two hurt most. Trillions would have been directed to balancing the budget and managing health care costs through Medicare. The latter alone would have served to more clearly demonstrate in a short time the value of public over private health insurance and win support.
It’s hard to take him seriously. He’s wagging his finger at millionaires and billionaires after giving them a huge tax cut.
Nothing speaks so clearly to the disdain “Clarence Thomas” Obama has for the middle class as his latest “promises”. Does he think we’re stupid or that we just don’t remember his last two years?
Let’s not forget NAFTA, total repeal of glass-steagall, the ridiculous lowering of our principal inflation monitoring symbol – the cpi -, reappointing Greenspan who turned on the printing presses 24 hours a day, allowing the conglomeration of our media, and a whole lot more.
So do I. I’ll add, I’m sorry the move hasn’t started already. There is NO alternative.
It’s easy for Obama to turn his back on his Corporate sponsors now because they know he no longer has the House & can’t actually DO anything to hurt them. His two years in office provides us a record he can’t run from. Obama has shown his true allegience & it couldn’t be farther from what he campaigned on. Yet, here we are, still wanting to believe he’s who he said he was. Sorry, Obama is every bit as immoral, sleezy & corrupt as his Presidential record indicates.
Obama is so “smooth,” that all he has to do is “regurgitate” a few ”winning” promises from the 2008 campaign, and all these “desperate dreamers” go “gaga” again.
This is CANDIDATE OBAMA talking.
DO NOT BE FOOLED AGAIN.
Primary him. For. Real.
I’ll go you one better juliana….the problems we have will NOT be fixed through the political process.
However, for those who still think it’s worth their while to bother to vote in this corrupt, purchased, dishonest and manipulated system, Obama needs to be primaried. You’re right…it won’t ultimately make any difference except to the people who do NOT want to vote for that lying motherfucker again.