Obama Signs Tax Deal Into Law- Democratic Leaders Skip Signing Ceremony

The tax deal Barack Obama negotiated with Congressional Republicans, opposed by liberals across the media and blogosphere passed the Senate in one of the rare bipartisan votes with 81 to 19, then passed the House of Representatives after liberals tried and failed to change the deal, was signed into law by Barack Obama today.

Missing from the signing ceremony were top Democratic leaders, the Speaker of the House (Until January when John Boehner is expected to take the gavel), second in command for the House, Steny Hoyer and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid.

President Barack Obama celebrated the spirit of compromise Friday as he signed a controversial $858 billion tax cut and unemployment insurance extension into law — but warned that bipartisan comity could be fleeting.

The bill, the result of a deal Obama cut with Senate Republicans over the objections of many Democrats, was a major victory for a White House that spent much of the past two years battling a unified GOP on the stimulus and health care reform.

"We are here with some good news for the American people this holiday season," Obama told about 150 people, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), gathered in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Noticeably absent were Speaker-to-be John Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who were all cut out of initial negotiations between Obama’s staff and McConnell.

The first truly bipartisan piece of legislation, which captured support from both sides of the aisle while neither got all they wanted and both gave up some of what they wanted and top Democratic leaders made themselves even more irrelevant with their noticeable public absence.

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Obama And Republicans' Tax Deal Passes The House- Final Vote 277-148

Despite all the howling and temper tantrums when the tax deal was first reached by Barack Obama and Congressional Republicans, after passing the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support with a vote of 81-19, the House of Representatives passed the tax deal, as is, with a vote of 277 to 148. (Roll Call here)

In a rush of late night activity, liberal Democrats first held a show vote that was certain to fail, attempting to change the estate tax provision in the deal negotiated between Republicans and Obama, to raise the tax rate from 35 percent to 45 percent and lower the exemption rate from $5 million to 3.5 million. That failed with a vote of 233-194 against.

Obama is expected to sign the deal into law as soon as today, Friday.

Headlines on this news vary, but the New York Times takes the cake, so to speak, on misrepresenting the news once again by titling their piece "Congress Sends $801 Billion Tax Cut Bill to Obama"

This isn't a $801 billion tax cut bill, taxes were due to rise at the end of this year, the deal simply extends current tax rates for all at the same rate it has been for years. So taxes were not raised, that does not mean anything was "cut."

In looking around the blogosphere at reactions, I see McQ states it better than I would have:

Keeping that rate doesn’t "cost" the government one red cent, because they never had the money to begin with. Pretending that somehow anticipated revenue from an increase in taxes is somehow a "cost" is a perversion of the English language as well as a misuse of an economic term.

Quit it.

Thank you.

~McQ

His point was one I was trying to make yesterday about the estate tax and how only in the twisted minds of liberals could letting people keep more of their own money be considered a "cost" or could they claim it "added" to our debt.

Again, I refer to McQ, the money was never the governments to begin with so letting heirs keep 65 percent of money and or estates left to them by someone who died is not costing the government a red cent and is not some type of "gift" to the rich.

Other headline major news:

In the Senate last night, the newly unveiled $1.1 trillion omnibus bill, which had multiple appropriations bills rolled into one monstrosity of a bill, went down in flames after Republicans filibustered and stood strong again allowing a largely unread, 1,924 pages omnibus bill, loaded with over 6,000 earmarks totaling $8 billion, and Harry Reid could not overcome the filibuster so he pulled the bill from the floor.

The Senate will now work to pass a Continuing Resolution which will fund government until February when the new sessions of Congress start. The House of Representatives will then be controlled by the GOP and the Senate will still be controlled by Democrats but with a much smaller margin that they have enjoyed for the last two years.

Next up in the lame duck session of the Senate, Reid files for cloture on DADT repeal and DREAM Act. (Click DREAM Act link for numbers to call to stop it from passing)

Related, must read piece in the Washington Examiner from Byron York.

Dems are earmark junkies but GOP goes straight

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Only A Liberal Would Claim That Letting People Keep THEIR Money Is A 'Gift'

Reading an article from The Hill I am once again struck by the twisted thinking that goes on in Liberal Democrat's minds.

This is about the estate tax aka death tax where our government claims the right to take (Insert percentage)of a person's inheritance after someone dies and leaves their fortune to that person if that fortune is more than (Insert amount).

IRS's explanation:

The Estate Tax is a tax on your right to transfer property at your death. It consists of an accounting of everything you own or have certain interests in at the date of death (Refer to Form 706 (PDF)). The fair market value of these items is used, not necessarily what you paid for them or what their values were when you acquired them. The total of all of these items is your "Gross Estate." The includible property may consist of cash and securities, real estate, insurance, trusts, annuities, business interests and other assets.

In the tax deal that Obama negotiated with congressional Republicans, there was a deal reached tax 35 percent of any estate left to heirs that equaled more than $5 million. (The 35 percent would be taxed on anything over the $5 million)

House Democrats and the whole liberal blogosphere went nuts over that provision because they feel the government should take 45 percent for all estates worth more than $3.5 million. (The 45 percent would be taxed on anything over the $3.5 million)

There is the background and here is what I read in The Hill today:

Democratic leaders have assailed the GOP-favored estate tax provision as a needless gift to the wealthy, calling it the most egregious part of the Obama proposal. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the House Democrats’ chief negotiator on the tax deal, said Wednesday the lower estate tax rate would add $23 billion to the deficit while benefiting just 6,600 American families.

There is so much wrong with that paragraph on so many levels I almost do not know where to start.

So, I will start with the phrase "needless gift."

Only in the twisted logic of a liberal is letting people keep their own money, left to them by a family member or friend, considered a "gift."

So, if you head over to your neighbors house and steal only 35 percent of their property instead of taking 45 percent of their property you are giving them a gift by oh so generously allowing them to keep 65 percent of their own property?

WTF?

Then we move on to Van Hollen''s other statement where he claims, outright, that by not stealing another 10 percent of someones inheritance it is adding to our deficit?

No no no no... wrong.

That isn't their money to begin with, it belongs to someone else, it isn't adding to anything. It is simply not allowing Peter to steal more from Paul to pay his bills.

What the hell is wrong with these people where not stealing as much as you could steal is considered a gift and stealing less than you could steal is considered adding debt?

That is freaking twisted.

Newsflash- When you spend money, you are adding to your debt. When you borrow money, you are adding to the debt.

When you take money that doesn't belong to you to pay for those debts, you are a thief.

(Changes were made to this post)

Senate Passes Bipartisan Tax Deal 81-19

The Senate just passed the tax deal negotiated by Barack Obama and Republican congressional members in an 81 to 19 vote for the measure. (Roll call will be found here in approximately an hour)

Next stop the House of Representatives where Democratic leadership has indicated they will try to change the deal but which projections predict will pass basically as is after Democrats put on a "show" to save face and to appease their far left liberal base that has been howling over the deal because of the inclusion of the estate tax deal which would set the tax at 35 percent and increase the exemption to $5 million.

House Democratic efforts to block President Obama’s tax bill have dwindled into a battle to save face as they come to the realization they will have little opportunity to rework the bipartisan compromise.

Party leaders were debating on Tuesday whether to bring up amendments to the bill for a vote even as Democrats acknowledged the overwhelming Senate support for the tax deal created an “urgency” to get legislation to the president’s desk.

The House is not expected to take the issue up until tomorrow.

More to come as reactions come out.

[Update] Now being reported by The Hill, Bloomberg, NPR, NYT.

[Update #2] Those that voted against it listed below:

NAYs ---19

Bingaman (D-NM)
Coburn (R-OK)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Ensign (R-NV)
Feingold (D-WI)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Merkley (D-OR)
Sanders (I-VT)
Sessions (R-AL)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Wyden (D-OR)

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Obama And Republicans Need To Tell House Dems: Pass The Deal, As Is, Or We Will In January

The tax deal Obama negotiated directly with Congressional Republicans after becoming dispirited at the lack of cooperation he was getting from Congressional Democrats has the overwhelming support from a majority of Americans and has passed it's first test vote (for cloture) in the Senate with an 83-15 vote.

Yet House Democrats are still trying to change the deal and it is time for Barack Obama, the Senate, and Congressional Republicans to tell the Pelosi and House Democrats "enough is enough, pass the deal, as is, or it will be passed in January when the GOP takes control of the House of Representatives."

Period.

House Democrats are angry they lost power and at the end of the year will no longer control the House, no longer be able to control the House agenda so they are attempting to make themselves feel relevant again in a power play they have no hope of winning. They should not be allowed to put on their little show at the expense of American's piece of mind.

It is a bipartisan deal negotiated by the leader of their party, Barack Obama, leaders of the Republican party and it is has been given the blessing of the majority of Americas and cloture on the tax deal passed the Senate with the most bipartisan support we have seen on almost anything controversial for over two years.

House Democrats need to either get on board or get out of the way because all they are doing at this point is proving to the American people that the midterm elections, the "shellacking" the Democrats took, was justified and it is this type of unreasonable posturing by House Democrats that caused them to lose control of the House in the first place.

[Update PS] I do not like many of the "sweeteners" that were added, I do not like many of the original parts of the deal Obama and Republicans negotiated, but as I tell the liberal left constantly, when the majority of Americans speak up, those who are in the way need to get out of the way, including me and other conservatives.

Had this issue not been put off until the very last minute, then perhaps the debate and negotiations could have gone differently, but it was put off, it is the last minute, and different polls from separate individual organizations show the majority of Americans favor this deal, so just pass the damn thing and quite howling over it.

A little note to my conservative brethren- When Obamacare showed the majority of Americans opposed to the law and liberals who controlled the House, Senate and White House ignored the will of American voters, passed it and signed it into law, look what happened on November 2, 2010.

Voters remembered.

Many of us howled then about house Democrats ignoring the majority, we said Obamacare should not be passed when the majority was so opposed to it and Democrats did it anyway.

Well, the shoe is now on the other foot and unless you are hypocrites, you have to maintain that the majority should be listened to whether you agree with all aspects of the deal or not.

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Finally A Liberal Lists The Reason Americans Do Not Like The Estate Tax aka Death Tax

Estate Tax aka Death Tax definition from IRS.gov:

The Estate Tax is a tax on your right to transfer property at your death. It consists of an accounting of everything you own or have certain interests in at the date of death (Refer to Form 706 (PDF)). The fair market value of these items is used, not necessarily what you paid for them or what their values were when you acquired them. The total of all of these items is your "Gross Estate." The includible property may consist of cash and securities, real estate, insurance, trusts, annuities, business interests and other assets.

Over at Mother Jones, Kevin Drum writes a piece titled "Tax Cut Deal Wildly Popular", where he shows the same graph I used yesterday taken from the ABC News/Washington Post poll showing support for specific components on the tax deal negotiated between Barack Obama and Congressional Republicans.

Drum then asks what is going on? He seems confused that the payroll tax cut garnered so much less support than the increased exemption on the estate tax (which is set at $5 million in the new tax deal).

He sees possible answers to his own question:

Possible answers: (a) people don't really understand that cutting payroll taxes means they'll see an immediate increase in their take home pay, (b) people associate payroll taxes so strongly with Social Security solvency that they don't want to cut them, (c) people fantastically overestimate how likely they are to have a $5 million estate when they die, (d) lots of people have a strong instinctive view that people should be able to pass on their wealth to their kids no matter how much it is, (e) people are just generally confused about all this stuff and it's hopeless to try and figure out what's really going on.

The majority of his "possible answers" seem to stem from his own inability to understand how liberals could be in the minority in their thinking and that people are too slow witted to truly understand the "progressive" thinking.

With that said, finally, a far left liberal lists the reason most Americans do not agree with the death tax and are supportive of increasing the exemption to the highest possible number if the whole tax the dead concept won't be scrapped.

Credit where it is due though, at least Drum did add the correct answer into the equation, much to the dismay and anger of other liberals.

How difficult is it to understand that people work their whole lives chasing the American dream in order to live well and be able to pass it on to their children/family?

The majority of the money millionaires or billionaires have, was either worked for and taxed already or someone in their families had worked for it and had it taxed already, so instinctively Americans wince at the thought of stealing from the dead simply because they died and had money when they did.

So, the answer is (d) lots of people have a strong instinctive view that people should be able to pass on their wealth to their kids no matter how much it is.....

Tell me how hard is it for far left liberals to understand the words "their wealth" and "their kids", words Drum used in his possible answers, are the key words and the reason the polling is showing support for the higher exemption?

Perhaps it is Drum and his far left brethren that "don't understand" and are "confused about all this stuff."

Americans aren't as gung-ho about class warfare as so-called progressives are.

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Tax Deal: Senate Cloture Vote Passes Test: Update- Up to 70 (Now 80) Votes For Cloture and Voting Still Open

The final voted that the Senate used as a test to see how much support or lack thereof they would have to pass the tax deal negotiated between Repulicans and Obama ended with 83-15, two not voting.

[Update] Final vote 83-15, two not voting, roll call found here.




Dems that vote nay:

Bingaman (D-NM)
Brown (D-OH)
Feingold (D-WI)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Udall (D-CO)



Republicans that voted nay:
Coburn (R-OK)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Sessions (R-AL)

Independent, who usually caucuses with Dems, that voted nay:
Sanders (I-VT)


[Updates on top for this post] MSNBC reports after my original post was in the works that the preliminary numbers are now 80-10 in favor of cloture for the tax deal negotiated between Obama and Republicans. More than enough needed to overcome a filibuster (which is 60 votes) when the actual bill comes up for a vote.

(Note- The numbers above are being changed as they are updated, keep refreshing for an accurate preliminary count and the official count will be listed at the top when it is published)

The vote is still open for a little less than an hour more. So these are just preliminary numbers.

This will be updated again with the final vote tally and when the U.S. Senate roll call lists are published I will provide a link.

Original post below.

It was predicted earlier that the Senate would hold their first procedural vote for cloture, to proceed with the Tax deal Barack obama and Republicans negotiated and that they did have the votes, in what was the first test vote in the senate, to pass the measure.

LA Times reports that the vote "began at 3 p.m., and the vote was to remain open until 6 p.m. to give senators time to make it back to Washington due to inclement weather. As of 4:20 p.m., C-SPAN reported, the vote was 64-8 in favor of the legislation."

The final numbers are not in yet, but the preliminary reports indicate the Senate does have the votes it would need (60) to overcome any filibuster attempt.

Related news today shows that the tax deal also enjoys complete bipartisan support from American voters by an easy majority in two separately reported polls, one from Pew Research and one from ABC News/Washington Post, more here on those.

The House of Representatives, still controlled by Democrats until January, has threatened to derail the tax deal Obama and Republicans negotiated and the Senate is expected to pass, but even House Democratic lawmakers opposed to portions of the deal have indicated they see the deal passing the House despite very loud objections from the progressive liberal blogosphere.

House aides said Democrats' strategy in that chamber would be affected by the margin of the Senate vote.

"If you have 70 people in a bipartisan vote, I don't see a situation where we really play that game of chicken and change [the bill],'' said a senior aide to a House Democrat supporting the legislation.

The deal negotiated by the White House and Republican lawmakers would extend for two years the income-tax cuts signed into law by former President George W. Bush. The agreement would also give most workers a one-year reduction in Social Security payroll taxes and enact a slew of targeted breaks for businesses and individuals.

Under the deal, the estate tax, which has been eliminated for 2010, would be reinstated next year at a top rate of 35% and applied to estates above $5 million. Without action, the rate is scheduled to spring to 55% next year and apply to estates above $1 million.

Many House Democrats argue the deal is too generous to inheritances. Some are arguing to amend the bill to include a top rate of 45%, applied to estates of $3.5 million or more. Another possibility under discussion is introducing and passing a separate bill on the 45% estate tax, then taking up the Senate measure, with its 35% rate, according to a House aide. That could give unhappy Democrats a chance to register their disapproval, without blocking action.

The House will make a big "show" of it all, but when all is said and done, Obama, The Senate nor Republicans need the House Democrats to pass this before the end of the year because according to WSJ, Obama can delay the implementation of higher taxes until Republicans pass the deal in January if Democrats do not do it.

.....the White House could block an immediate increase in withholding levels, pending passage of a tax bill by a new Congress next year.....

Democrats can put on whatever show they want, but this either passes as one of their last acts in control or it will pass in January when Republicans take control. All this theater is nothing more than that.



Today's related posts:

Tax Deal: Two Separate Polls Show Liberals Fighting Against Majority of Americans, Even Their Own Party

Tax Deal: Predicted To Pass In The Senate

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Tax Deal: Two Separate Polls Show Liberals Fighting Against Majority of Americans, Even Their Own Party

Two polls released which show that an overwhelming majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats support the tax deal that Barack Obama and Republicans negotiating. This shows that far left liberals, including House Democrats that have been fighting against the deal as a whole, are not representative of America and are not even representative of their whole party.

Earlier it was reported that the Senate is set to move forward with it's first procedural motion, cloture, to test the level of support in the upper chamber and now Pew Research and an ABC News/Washington Post poll both find a broad level of support, a majority of Americans supportive of the tax deal as a whole.

Pew finds that 60 percent of Americans back the tax deal, and that includes 63 percent of Democrats and surprise, surprise, 65 percent of liberal Democrats, showing that the far left liberal blogoshere which has spent a week throwing a complete temper tantrum, does not even represent those that consider themselves liberal Democrats!!

The agreement between President Obama and congressional Republicans to extend tax cuts and unemployment benefits is getting strong bipartisan support. Overall, 60% approve of the agreement while just 22% disapprove.

There are virtually no partisan differences in opinions about the agreement – 63% of Democrats approve of it, as do 62% of Republicans and 60% of independents. Among Democrats, liberals are as supportive of the agreement as are conservative and moderate Democrats.

The ABC News/Washington Post poll is even worse news for the far left liberal blogosphere, as well as the House Democrats that have been fighting against the deal their own party's president negotiated:

Sixty-nine percent of Americans said they support the agreement announced last week by the president that would extend all expiring tax cuts for two years, extend unemployment benefits for 13 months, allow for a one-year payroll tax holiday, and increase the level of exemption from estate taxes, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found Monday.

The graph at the top of the post is a screen shot from the ABC News/Washington Post poll PDF, and it shows that the specific part of the tax deal that receives the least support is cutting social security and payroll taxes, not the part that liberal far left progressive Democrats have been complaining about, very loudly, which has been the estate tax provisions.

The estate tax provision increasing the exemption actually enjoys a majority of support even from Democrats.

(Click image to enlarge for better reading)

Initial reactions show blogosphere far left liberals in complete denial.

[Update] New reports show that a certain segment of conservatives are slamming the deal, with estate taxes also being the chief complaint... the difference is that the conservatives do not think there should be any estate tax aka death tax.

The polls mentioned above ask about support on "increasing exemption" but they did not ask about the estate tax as a whole.

I would be interested to see those figures gauging what portion of America thinks that leveling taxes on monies or estates left to family and/or friends is supported although as I pointed out in previous days, highlighting specific portions of the bill should not assume that just because one option or another would influence support as a whole.

The bill is not being voted on separately, it is a package and when determining levels of support the whole package should always be polled on rather than cherry picking individual issues to try to dishonestly mislead readers into thinking the package in full does not enjoy bipartisan support.

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Tax Deal Predicted To Pass In The Senate

[Update]- Senate test vote has more than enough votes for cloture- Post here, constantly updated until final vote count is in.

Today the Senate is expected to hold their first procedural vote for cloture, to proceed with the Tax deal Barack obama and Republicans negotiated and according to Senate aides if the motion receives 65 to 70 members' support it will affect how the House of Representatives (still controlled by Pelosi until January) handles the passage in that chamber.

Three Senate aides said the tax package appeared likely to attract at least 65 to 70 supporters Monday in a procedural vote in the Senate to test whether there is support to block a potential filibuster. Sixty votes are needed for the bill to cross that hurdle. A vote on final passage is expected a day or two later.

House aides said Democrats' strategy in that chamber would be affected by the margin of the Senate vote.

"If you have 70 people in a bipartisan vote, I don't see a situation where we really play that game of chicken and change [the bill],'' said a senior aide to a House Democrat supporting the legislation.

For those unaware of what the estate tax aka death tax is:

The estate tax in the United States is a tax imposed on the transfer of the "taxable estate" of a deceased person, whether such property is transferred via a will, according to the state laws of intestacy or otherwise made as an incident of the death of the owner, such as a transfer of property from an intestate estate or trust, or the payment of certain life insurance benefits or financial account sums to beneficiaries.

Of course, House Democrats will have some sort of dog and pony show before hand, some political theater to "register their disapproval" with the estate tax aka death tax provisions that are in the Senate deal.

Under the deal, the estate tax, which has been eliminated for 2010, would be reinstated next year at a top rate of 35% and applied to estates above $5 million. Without action, the rate is scheduled to spring to 55% next year and apply to estates above $1 million.

Many House Democrats argue the deal is too generous to inheritances. Some are arguing to amend the bill to include a top rate of 45%, applied to estates of $3.5 million or more. Another possibility under discussion is introducing and passing a separate bill on the 45% estate tax, then taking up the Senate measure, with its 35% rate, according to a House aide. That could give unhappy Democrats a chance to register their disapproval, without blocking action.

The bottom line here is that House Democrats are in the lame duck session and Pelosi and company cannot afford to have one of their last acts of "control" be the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for everyone to which every American would then see a tax rise by the end of the year.

The Wall Street Journal also provides another detail of why, despite the planned political theater, House Democrats truly are irrelevant to this deal:

It wasn't clear how far House Democrats would push such a fight. If a bill isn't passed by the end of the year, tax rates are scheduled to go up, although the White House could block an immediate increase in withholding levels, pending passage of a tax bill by a new Congress next year.

Next year being when Republicans control the House of Representatives.

So, after the Senate passes the tax deal and the House Democrats put on their little show, in the end the deal is predicted to pass whether it is by the end of the year as one of the last acts the Democratically controlled House passes or whether it is one of the first acts of a Republican controlled House in January.

The most interesting thing here is with the announcement that Obama and Republicans had negotiated a tax deal, Obama potentially could have elevated his standing among Independents and Moderates across America, but far left liberal progressives took a whole week and publicly had what amounts to a hissy fit, turning the potential win into a protracted class warfare fight turning the whole deal against Obama.

Then to top it off, in trying to soothe or win over the far left liberals, Obama put the final nail in the coffin and spectacularly blew it.

[Update] New related post "Tax Deal: Two Separate Polls Show Liberals Fighting Against Majority of Americans, Even Their Own Party."

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Obama Was So Close, Then He Blew It Again

Obama admitting the midterms were a shellacking against Democrats, then showing he could work with Republicans on the first major issues Americans overwhelmingly polled to wanting dealt with during the lame duck session, proving he understood that in the newly GOP controlled House of Representatives, Pelosi and far left liberals were irrelevant to winning compromises... all showed he understood, got the message voters sent and was acting accordingly.

Then he screwed it all up again.


By the the numbers:

June 2010- Gallup:

42 percent of Americans describing themselves as either very conservative or conservative, 20 percent self identify as liberal and 35 percent as Moderate.

September- Gallup:

Republicans were trusted more than Democrats on nine of ten key issues, included in those issues were federal spending, the economy and jobs. Voters also made it clear economy mattered the most.

October- Rasmussen:

The economy was the most important issue and that poll also showed voters trusted Republicans more that Democrats, 49 to 39 percent.

Taxes were specifically mentioned in that Rasmussen poll:

Forty-eight percent (48%) of voters nationwide place their trust in the hands of Republicans when it comes to the issue of taxes. Thirty-nine percent (39%) would rather the Democrats handle this issue. The GOP has held a solid lead over Democrats on this issue since early July 2009.

November 23, 2010- After midterms- Gallup:

Americans are most likely to say it is important for Congress to pass legislation to keep the estate tax from increasing significantly next year and to extend the income tax cuts passed under George W. Bush before the end of the year. Just under half say it is important for Congress to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed.

The polls establish that Democrats, for whatever reason, lost the trust of American voters on the economy and taxes and on November 2, 2010, the midterm elections, voters handed the GOP control of the House of Representatives in the biggest gain for a party in over 70 years and gave them a six seat net gain in the Senate.

The polls also establish that Americans listed keeping estate taxes aka the death tax from increasing, extending the Bush era tax cuts and extending unemployment benefits, as the top three issues Americans deemed priorities.


The Tax Deal

November 18, 2010, Barack Obama met with the Democratic leadership (the House of Representatives still under Pelosi's control until the GOP take control in January) and according to one official, reported by The Politico, Obama left that meeting "dispirited" and determined to work directly with Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"The point is the House and Senate [leadership] has proven they are incapable of getting things done," the official said.

So Obama did just that. He went into direct negotiations with Republicans. Something even Obama admitted, according to administration officials, he did not do enough of during the two years that Democrats controlled both house's of Congress and the White House.

President Barack Obama told GOP leaders behind closed doors Tuesday that he had failed to reach across party lines enough during his first two years in office, a senior administration official told CNN. He promised to do a better job of bipartisan outreach in the days ahead, the official added.

"The president said he had to do better, and the president is ready to do his part," the official said.

To that end, Obama appeared to keep to his word and the White House and Republicans hammered out a deal which covered each of the three top priorities American voters listed above as most important to deal with during the lame duck session, and more.

President Barack Obama reached agreement Monday with Republican leaders in Congress on a broad tax package that would extend the Bush-era income tax cuts for two years, reduce worker payroll taxes for one year and give more favorable treatment to business investments.

Other elements of the deal include a temporary reinstatement of the estate tax at 35%—the level favored by most Republican lawmakers—as well as an extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.

So far, golden. Republicans and the White House, in the first real test of how they would attempt to work together in the coming year, were able to reach compromises that neither side thought perfect but both gave a little and took a little and made the point to the American public that they were trying.

Polling after the tax deal was reached showed that a clear majority of Americans (66%) favored the tax deal's major two components, extending the tax cuts and extending unemployment benefits.


Liberal Reactions

Liberals went nuts, politicians, pundits and the entire far left liberal blogosphere denounced the tax deal that Americans overwhelmingly favored. Democratic Politicians quoted as saying "fuck the president", the blogosphere demanding a line in the sand be drawn over the estate tax, the still but not for long Democratically controlled House voting on a non-binding resolution to not consider the tax deal even if it meant letting taxes rise for everyone and unemployment benefits expire.

Liberals have accused Obama of betraying them, being a liar, being weak and a number of other things, but liberals have truly screwed him over at a time he needed them the most.

To have the first public battle having to be fought against your own party showing they don't even support you in trying to act accordingly to the devastating results of a midterm election that saw your party suffer massive losses, has to feel like the biggest betrayal of all.

I hate to say it, but when I wrote my posts about liberal reactions, I actually felt a little bit bad for Obama, even though I disagree almost 100 percent with his political ideology.

Until...................................


Barack Obama's Mistakes

Obama, obviously frustrated at this point, gave a speech where he denounced Republicans as "hostage takers" and far left liberal Democrats as "sanctimonious".

Peggy Noonan explains this mistake succinctly, so let me turn it over to her for a moment:

The president must have thought that distancing himself from left and right would make him more attractive to the center. But you get credit for going to the center only if you say the centrist position you've just embraced is right. If you suggest, as the president did, that the seemingly moderate plan you agreed to is awful and you'll try to rescind it in two years, you won't leave the center thinking, "He's our guy!" You'll leave them thinking, "Note to self: Remove Obama in two years."

Exactly and well said Peggy!!!

All the good will Obama may have generated among the 35 percent that identify as Moderate, he just undid in one speech.

Liberals, to which only 20 percent of Americans self identify as, will never vote Republican in a presidential election, they will either not vote of they will vote for the Democratic candidate.

Moderates, Independents not affiliated with either party have proven election cycle after election cycle that they will vote for either party if they believe that particular party in that particular year is the better option.

Republicans will either stay home or vote for the Republican candidate.

Logic would dictate that a president planning to run for reelection in two years would specifically set his goal toward winning back the Independents that helped him win the original presidential election, doubly hard after he lost them during the midterms.

But Obama didn't.

That speech was his first mistake but it didn't end there.

Obama then decided he needed to appease his far left liberal base in some manner, or win them over, so he started generating graphs showing how much he obtained in the Tax deal versus what Republicans obtained. He started emailing the media endorsements of his plan by other liberals.

All proving to Moderates and Independents that he worked with the Republicans because he "had" to, not because he realized voters want to see at least some level of cooperation.

Then promising to "fix" it over the next couple years, put Obama right back to where he was after the midterm elections, perhaps even worse.

Obama's second mistake and possibly even a worse mistake than the speech was bringing Bill Clinton in to the White House and not just having a press conference with Clinton beside him open to questions from the press, but by handing the whole press conference over to him and then leaving in the midst of it to attend a party!!

If it isn't bad enough that Obama hid behind Clinton like a boy hiding behind his daddy , Clinton's words, his endorsement of the plan in saying "The agreement, taken as a whole is, I believe, the best bipartisan agreement we can reach to help the largest number of Americans, and to maximize the chances that the economic recovery will accelerate and create more jobs, and to minimize the chances that it will slip back, which is what has happened in other financial collapses," directly contradicts Obama's message about the deal needing "fixing" over the next two years.

If Barack Obama would have stood firm, come out and clearly, with no apologies, said "this is the deal we have negotiated, this deal addresses the primary concerns of American voters and if the Democratically controlled House of Representatives refuses to pass it, in the spirit of bipartisanship I would hope the new GOP controlled House of Representatives in 2011 will keep to their word and pass it, as is, retroactively."

That would have put Nancy Pelosi and 20 percent far left liberals in their place, it would have put the GOP into a corner forcing them to go back on their negotiations or pass it in January, and it would have shown that Barack Obama had a spine.

He was so close..... then he blew it again.

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