In his press conference today, President Obama “had some ‘splainin’ to do” about his tax cut deal with Congressional Republicans. The President made it pretty clear that, in the face of Republican obduracy, he thought the deal was the only way to make sure that middle class taxes didn’t go up on January 1 and that those most in need continued to receive unemployment benefits. When asked if he didn’t think that he was setting a dangerous precedent for future dealings with the GOP, the President resorted to the hostage analogy. He said that, although everyone agreed that it was a bad idea to negotiate with hostage takers, exceptions had to be made when it looked like the hostages would get hurt. He felt that the injury to the hostages – higher taxes for the middle class and the loss of benefits to the long-term unemployed – was just too great to risk in this case.
Okay, Mr. President, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on this one. You say that you only caved on the Republicans’ “holy grail” of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans on a temporary basis and because the risk to the middle class and the neediest Americans in the current economy was too great. You say that you are looking forward to future tests of will against the Republicans, when the immediate risk to the middle class and the unemployed is no longer an issue. You say that the Republicans will find that you will not blink under more stable and less dangerous economic circumstances. I fervently hope that all of that is true. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, in any hostage situation, aren’t the hostages always in danger of getting hurt? Isn’t that danger the factor that makes hostage-taking a potentially successful course of action for people who don’t give a s*** about the hostages? Isn’t the hostage takers’ indifference to the fate of their hostages the very thing that gives them leverage over the folks that want the hostages’ safe return? So here’s the takeaway for all of us who aren’t among the very wealthiest Americans (for whose tax cuts we were taken hostage): the Republican Party does not give a rat’s ass about our financial well-being. They do NOT care about us. At all. And as long as we are stupid enough to keep electing them and handing them the power to determine our future, they will screw us six ways from Sunday.
Is we learning yet?
Perhaps those citizens who are not in the top 2% of wealthy Americans and who continually vote for Republicans are suffering from Stockholm syndrome.
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