President Obama just delivered a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations, reiterating his demand that more tax revenue come from upper-income earners. But he didn’t specify whether he would be willing to take the revenue from reforms in the tax code rather than tax hikes, an idea House Speaker John Boehner has indicated he’s open to. The fact that Obama was vague on that point could be a sign he’s ready to compromise on his demand that the Bush tax cuts be repealed for the top tax bracket.
What Obama made very clear, however, is that he wants to shift the onus for action onto Congress (h/t Washington Examiner):
While Obama didn’t use the word “mandate,” his basic message was that the House Republicans are the only obstacle to a solution the American people favor. “A majority of Americans agree with my approach,” he said at one point. Boehner’s strategy has been the opposite, calling on President Obama to take the lead and compromise on tax hikes:
Speaker John Boehner again tried to shift responsibility for the looming fiscal cliff to President Barack Obama, saying expiring tax rates and trillions of dollars in spending cuts are mostly his to solve.
“This is an opportunity for the president to lead,” Boehner said Friday in the Capitol. “This is his moment to engage the Congress and work toward a solution that can pass both chambers.”
Boehner struck a part conciliatory, part aggressive tone but stayed vague on the next few months in what’s sure to be a tense Washington would look like.
Both are short on details, waiting instead for their meeting next week to lay out their demands. But from their statements so far, it seems like there may be room for common ground on tax revenue.
UPDATE: Strike that. Jay Carney just said in the White House briefing Obama will only accept a deal that repeals the Bush tax cuts for the top tax bracket. “If a bill were to reach his desk that extends tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent, he will not sign,” said Carney. “We cannot afford it.” Interestingly enough, Carney also said the president wants to both repeal the top-level Bush tax cuts and reform the tax code. If you’re going to get the extra revenue out of the tax code reform, why would you need to raise tax rates even further, unless your policy stance has more to do with a personal view of “fairness” than with closing the deficit?
Soon enough, we will see that Obama is still the classical left wing class warfare guy who doesn't care about revenue, but only about sticking it to the rich (if $ 250,000 can be considered rich) The GOP should refuse all of this and let the fiscal cliff arrive.
Same old,same old. Did anyone really expect BHO to change his nasty attitude? His entire agenda since first taking office was to raise taxes on those awful "millionaires, billionaires" (translation: those making more than 250 grand) He is just itching to get it done and his angry attitude today showed. I almost expected him to shout out loud "I won!!".And I think it's pathetic he will wait a week before going to meet those who suffered from hurricane Sandy as well as wait a week to meet with Congress to talk about the fiscal cliff. Again, the MSM says nothing. These next four years will be hell. Just listening to BHO talk is a living hell.
This has been the story all day on cable news. Obama is willing to compromise. As long as you accept that compromise means YOU compromise. Obama believes or says he believes he has a mandate to do more or less what he likes. Paul Krugman told Obama to let economy fly off the fiscal cliff instead of compromising. n nInvest in the companies that make the paper and ink used to print money.
An alcoholic does have to hit bottom before he/she/it can be helped. n nMaybe a good old-fashoned economic crisis is what we need. n