Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama
President Obama, in a very intelligent and politically savvy move, compromised with the Republicans, who've fought like crazy to have the Bush tax cuts extended for the wealthiest two percent of our population. Obama has argued, quite reasonably, that with the economy struggling the way that it is, it makes no sense to keep giving tax breaks to those who need it the least. Even billionaires like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have expressed their agreement with this sentiment. But the Republican Party, determined to brand itself as the party of the rich, has laid it all on the line to make sure the wealthiest Americans are taken care of.
When speaking about the Bush tax cuts this weekend with Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton, my consistent opinion was that President Obama had no choice but to give the Republicans what they want. The president was faced with the ethically-bankrupt decision of the Republicans to allow unemployment insurance to expire for millions of jobless Americans, right near the holiday season. I explained that if a man is holding your child hostage and wants you to pay him $5,000 to save your baby, you should give the man what he wants. He will pay the price later for his evil deed.
One would expect that the Republicans will surely pay a price for taking such a bold and public stand for the rich. They took over Congress on the backs of a populist push, consisting of Tea Partiers and Americans who call themselves patriots. The problem is that there is almost nothing patriotic about allowing the wealth gap to grow to the point that America becomes an aristocracy. There is no justification for giving tax cuts to the rich, since they are not the ones who are creating jobs (less than two percent of all tax returns for small businesses are filed by those earning over $250,000 per year) and the rest of us can't afford to make them richer than they already are.
Another victory for President Obama in this compromise is that he has allowed Americans to see that the Republicans have little desire to control the deficit. By refusing an opportunity to save money by taking a gift back from those who don't even need it, they are effectively saying that they only want to save money by undermining the essential needs of America's poor. Tea Partiers who complain about the growing deficit must realize that if they are not in the wealthiest two percent of the country, they are being bamboozled by those with big money who are controlling their minds to get political power for themselves.
Here are a few quotes from President Obama's statement about the tax cuts. Although I've sometimes critiqued Obama in the past, I must agree with him whole heartedly on this particular issue. There is no excuse for Republican behavior on this one, and the party is likely to pay publicly for this debacle.
"Republicans believe that we should also make permanent the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. I completely disagree with this. A permanent extension of these tax cuts would cost us $700 billion at a time when we need to focus on bringing down our deficit. "
Obama also went on to say the following:
*...Republicans will block a permanent tax cut for the middle class unless they also get a permanent tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, regardless of the cost. We saw that in two different votes that were taken this weekend. And without a willingness to give on both sides, there's no reason to believe this stalemate won't continue well into next year. This would be a chilling prospect for the American people, whose taxes are currently scheduled to go up on January 1st. "
I fully expect that as time goes on, Americans will take note that the Republican Party's first item of business after their victory in the mid-term elections was to fight for tax cuts for the rich. There is almost no logical reason for them to hold the other 98 percent of Americans hostage over the wealthiest two percent. This leads to questions regarding how they obtained their power, and whether the vast Tea Party movement that swept the nation was actually funded by wealthy individuals seeking to control their minds. Obama made the right decision to compromise, and sometimes having values can be a liability when dealing with those who have no compassion. This was a long-term moral and political victory for President Obama, and I say, "Good job."
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.