Obama to Renege on Campaign Promise

[I Love Me Some Me]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11242008/news/politics/thats_rich__top_earners_could_keep_bush__140527.ht m

By DAPHNE RETTER IN WASHINGTON, DC, and DAN MANGAN IN NY
POWER FORWARD: President-elect Barack Obama takes a time out from transition planning yesterday and arrives at the University of Chicago to enjoy a basketball break.Last updated: 6:59 am
November 24, 2008
Posted: 3:03 am
November 24, 2008

He doesn't take office for another two months, but President-elect Barack Obama is already indicating he'll renege on a key campaign promise.

Obama's top advisers said yesterday he's "likely" to back off from his vow to speed up the elimination of a tax break for the wealthy.

The about-face on the issue comes as the US careens toward recession, and as Obama says he wants Congress to approve huge new spending and new tax cuts to stimulate the economy.

Currently, single and married-filing-jointly taxpayers who earn more than $357,700 annually pay a top tax rate of 35 percent, a level Congress set at the behest of President Bush in 2001. That rate is set to revert to the prior rate of 39.6 percent at the end of 2010.

Obama campaigned on the vow to eliminate the "Bush tax cut" before it was due to expire, arguing that the wealthy needed the tax break less than the middle class did.

But yesterday, Bill Daley, one of Obama's advisers and a former commerce secretary, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that it looks "more likely than not" that Obama will not end the tax break early, but instead will allow it to expire as originally planned in 2010.

Asked about that prospect on "Fox News Sunday," Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said, "Those considerations will be made."

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) was not happy about the idea of maintaining the tax breaks for another two years.

"I think we've got to drop those tax cuts for a number of reasons. We just cannot afford to continue them," Levin told CNN's "Late Edition."

Also yesterday, top congressional Democrats supported Obama's proposal for "a big-number" spending-and-tax-cut plan that would greatly exceed the $175 billion recovery package he called for last month. Obama on Saturday said he wants to create or save 2.5 million jobs with that plan.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) told ABC's "This Week" that he believes the new plan needs to be funded to the tune of between $500 billion and $700 billion - and predicted Congress would have a stimulus package ready for Obama to sign by Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

"And that's because our economy's in serious, serious trouble," said Schumer (D-NY). "So a strong shot in the arm, just the way Barack Obama has conceived it . . . is what we need. And most economists say, to make this work, you need about 5 percent of [gross domestic product], which would be $700 billion. I think we need a large one."

[email protected]

[ducks]

that is not change
this is speaking with forked tongue

[boutons_]

The cut in estate taxes will cost the Treasury $800B - $1T over the expiring lifetime of the cuts.

I don't agree with Obama on this point. The tax cuts for the rich do not trickle down, as has been demonstrated repeatedly.

[Winehole23]

that is not change
this is speaking with forked tongueIt could be pragmatism. Conventional wisdom is that you don't raise taxes in the teeth of a recession.

At the opportune moment -- supposing that will be one in Obama's first term -- you can be sure he will raise taxes. He'll have to, to help pay for bailout, stimulus, infrastructure and health care.

If Obama were to keep his promise to "spread the wealth around" now, with foreseeably detrimental results for the broader economy, he'd not be doing us or himself any favors.

On the whole, I rather have him be a "hypocrite" and put if off for awhile.

[I Love Me Some Me]

It could be pragmatism. Conventional wisdom is that you don't raise taxes in the teeth of a recession.

At the opportune moment -- supposing that will be one in Obama's first term -- you can be sure he will raise taxes. He'll have to, to help pay for bailout, stimulus, infrastructure and health care.

If Obama were to keep his promise to "spread the wealth around" now, with foreseeably detrimental results for the broader economy, he'd not be doing us or himself any favors.

On the whole, I rather have him be a "hypocrite" and put if off for awhile.

I guess the question is, then, why make the promise in the first place? It's not like things are much different now than they were when he was campaigning.

[clambake]

it's complicated......trying to clean up this mess that dipshit created.

i guess the best thing to do is bitch about a guy thats not even the president, yet.

[Winehole23]

I guess the question is, then, why make the promise in the first place? It's not like things are much different now than they were when he was campaigning.I disagree. Things are way different. Obama's the president-elect now. Campaign's over. Time to turn around and piss on the party base. It's a time-honored Democratic party pastime.

The credit crunch may be a little over a year old, but it didn't become a systemic crisis until Lehman was permitted to go tits up in mid-September.

Not even Bernanke and Paulson understood the problem to begin with, and even now they don't seem too sure what to do, besides continuing to save the whales who got wiped out at the casino. Besides backstopping the whole effing banking and finance sector, we can expect Keynesian megastimulus.$500-$700 billion for starters.

All of the options are potentially disastrous at this point. Nobody knows the correct policy. I'm not religiously inclined, but I might find time to pray the Deity wisdom and and luck for our president.

[boutons_]

"not like things are much different now"

false, since Paulsen killed his/Goldman rival Lehman, world-wide banking system has effectively collapsed.

[Bigzax]

just don't call him a reneger to his face...:wakeup

[doobs]

just don't call him a reneger to his face...:wakeup

What about "renega"?

[Bigzax]

:lol

that's acceptable...

[I Love Me Some Me]

"not like things are much different now"

false, since Paulsen killed his/Goldman rival Lehman, world-wide banking system has effectively collapsed.

What we see now is not something that happened between 11/4 and today. It was in motion long before the election and during the campaign process. If eliminating the tax-break is a bad idea now, it was a bad idea then and he should have been willing to say so. Instead (LIKE EVERY POLITICIAN OUT THERE), Obama said what he needed to in order to get the votes he needed to get.

[Creepn]

What about "renega"?

lol :lol

[doobs]

What we see now is not something that happened between 11/4 and today. It was in motion long before the election and during the campaign process. If eliminating the tax-break is a bad idea now, it was a bad idea then and he should have been willing to say so. Instead (LIKE EVERY POLITICIAN OUT THERE), Obama said what he needed to in order to get the votes he needed to get.

I think it would be interesting to list a series of issues facing America, with several possible policies for the Obama Administration to consider. I would take this list, post it at Huffington (and ST), and ask Obama supporters to go on the record stating which policies they support. I would also ask them to comment on the policies they dislike.

I would do all this to force them to be honest when Obama inevitably does something they do not like. It seems to me, sometimes, that he can say and do whatever he wants, and a large number of people will support him just because they like his personality or what he supposedly represents. Change and hope.

[boutons_]

Which dubya supporters have attempted to force dubya, dickhead, Rummy, neo-c*nts to be be honest about their pre-2000, hidden agenda to invade Iraq, no matter what?

Even coroporate MSM called out McNasty and pitbull bitch on their outright lies and egregious distortions, but the right-wing is OK with that.

Do we really have right-winger bitching about Obama letting the wealthy keep their tax cuts? :lol

[Winehole23]

Accountability is an orphan.

Remember how tiresome the cries of "it's Bill Clinton's fault" became?

"It's all Bush's fault" is going to put it in the shade. He's the new Herbert Hoover.

[ChumpDumper]

I'm completely on board with this. I think I said said he should have changed the tax position even before the election. Spend now, tax later.

[ChumpDumper]

Oh, and :lol @ board Republicans getting angry about a Democrat's keeping tax cuts in place.

[Oh, Gee!!]

He broke his promise to spread the wealth around? Joe the Plumber will be crestfallen.

[Tully365]

it's complicated......trying to clean up this mess that dipshit created.

i guess the best thing to do is bitch about a guy thats not even the president, yet.

:lol Funny how the blame has hopscotched from fiscal conservative Clinton to Obama-- leaving that fiscal radical GW standing there, blameless in addition to clueless.

[I Love Me Some Me]

Nobody's bitching, and no one is shifting blame. My only statement is, he obviously knew eliminating the tax break was undoable...but touted it as a campaign platform anyway. I guess I just want people who are all over his nuts to realize that he was saying things just to get votes...in other words, he's not all change and hope, but will turn out to be politics as usual.

[ChumpDumper]

I'm not sure that saying he would make some tax breaks for the well-off expire sooner really got him that many votes, aside from making his spending numbers look like they weren't going to add as much to the deficit. The tax cuts for everyone else? Definitely.
Nobody's bitchingOf course you are.

[Winehole23]

in other words, he's not all change and hope, but will turn out to be politics as usual.I couldn't disagree more.The extraordinary economic challenge we face will require extraordinary countermeasures, for good and for ill.

The next four years will be anything but politics as usual and could be an epochal realignment like the New Deal, with all that would mean for hopes and fears.

[Tully365]

in other words, he's not all change and hope, but will turn out to be politics as usual.

The hope and change are still there-- problem is, he inherited a house and had certain plans for additions and repairs, but before being able to do those things the house caught fire. The main objective now is to put out the fire, which makes a change of priorities completely sensible.

[ChumpDumper]

I was hoping Obama would change his stance on these tax cuts.

:tu

[ducks]

Oh, and :lol @ board Republicans getting angry about a Democrat's keeping tax cuts in place.

lol at chump for assuming I am agree with the tax break

he promises stuff and lies to get in

I have a problem with his forked tongue more then anything

2 months ago he said the opposite
what will he say in 2 months

[ChumpDumper]

lol at chump for assuming I am agree with the tax breakYou are not agree with the tax break?

[Tully365]

I have a problem with his forked tongue more then anything



:lol Kemosabe make good argument!

[I Love Me Some Me]

Of course you are.

Says...you? Point out ONE thing I bitched about. I'm just making statements.


The hope and change are still there-- problem is, he inherited a house and had certain plans for additions and repairs, but before being able to do those things the house caught fire. The main objective now is to put out the fire, which makes a change of priorities completely sensible.

The building was on fire before he inherited it. And what he promised to help put out the fire was never going to work...now you want to pretend like he didn't know the flame was already going? C'mon...if it isn't a good idea now, it wasn't a good idea then.

I can't believe how hard it is for some people to admit this guy used misleading campaign promises. Just once tell me he doesn't walk on water, and that he's a politician like the rest of them.

[ChumpDumper]

Says...you? Point out ONE thing I bitched about. I'm just making statements.You're kidding, right?

Go ahead and bitch. It's allowed. Lying about your bitching just makes it funny.

[Tully365]

Just once tell me he doesn't walk on water, and that he's a politician like the rest of them.

I've never made anything resembling that claim, and have argued against those that do. Still, I find it to be a pointless, disingenuous critique. But, yes, most sensible Obama supporters agree that he will fall short of utopian perfection... agreed.

Every person that runs for president is a politician. It's inescapably in the job description. Washington, Madison, Lincoln... no one is excluded. I find it ridiculous when anyone tries to run for political office as a non-politician. It's like saying someone will dominate the nba... but he won't be a basketball player.

[I Love Me Some Me]

You're kidding, right?

Go ahead and bitch. It's allowed. Lying about your bitching just makes it funny.

Not as funny as you bitching about my bitching, but okay.

[ChumpDumper]

Obama doesn't walk on water and he is a politician like the rest of them.

Anything more you want to bitch about?

[Bigzax]

You are not agree with the tax break?

:lol

[ChumpDumper]

Not as funny as you bitching about my bitching, but okay.I am just making statements about your bitching.

[I Love Me Some Me]

I am just making statements about your bitching.

:ihit

[Bender]

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you...!

[doobs]

For what it's worth, I'm not bitching about Obama. I'm bitching about Obamaniacs who will support Obama no matter what, even if he governs as Barack W. Bush.

I think--or I hope--that Obama is scared enough and smart enough to realize that his re-election depends on largely maintaining the status quo. If the economy really is in the shitter, then any drastic changes implemented by Obama and the Democrats will become the cause of our nation's problems--according to stupid, disgruntled voters.

I can already sense a Clintonian inclination toward triangulation and a poll-driven presidency. While such a governing philosophy is anything but courageous or admirable, I definitely prefer it to hard left ideology.

[doobs]

nevermind

[JoeChalupa]

He's doing what he has to do.

[Wild Cobra]

Obama to Renege on Campaign Promise
What's new. Every democrat does just that!

Today's democrats cannot get elected without lying to their lemmings.

[ChumpDumper]

Do you board Republicans favor this course of action by Obama?

Yes or no.

[FromWayDowntown]

Yeah, I'll admit that I'm at a loss to truly understand what the story is here. While the fundamentals of the declining economy perhaps haven't changed much since 11/4, the particulars have certainly been in flux and the tombstones from the decline are increasing. With that, it's a worthwhile effort to reconsider policies that might not best serve the public. I'd frankly much rather a President who will backtrack on a position to find a good outcome from reasoned analysis than one who insists upon maintaining a particular approach, no matter how much failure it appears destined to bring. One is pragmatic, the other is insane.

Here, the only people who would seem inclined to be bothered by reconsideration are those who seem interested in seeing failure from Obama, and, as Chump seems to be saying, the irony is that those who are bothered are the very people who would have advocated for this stance in the first place -- after all, it's among the things that McCain promised.

[ChumpDumper]

He should also scrap the tax increases until the economy gets better.http://lorac.typepad.com/StumbleUpon/Pat_on_the_back_apparatus.gif

[Nbadan]

Seems to me that Obama cares more about saving what's left of our battered economy than what some in the GOP will think about him...truth be told it was Dubya who should have raised taxes years ago...

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

If you Dems were expecting him to keep all his promises he made during his campaign y'all are going to spend the next four years having a meltdown :lol

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Here, the only people who would seem inclined to be bothered by reconsideration are those who seem interested in seeing failure from Obama, and, as Chump seems to be saying, the irony is that those who are bothered are the very people who would have advocated for this stance in the first place -- after all, it's among the things that McCain promised.

I'm glad he got a clue, I guess I'm just skeptical that he actually got one or if it's just the first of many promises made to the electorate to sucker them into voting for him.

Time will tell.

[Tully365]

I'm glad he got a clue, I guess I'm just skeptical that he actually got one or if it's just the first of many promises made to the electorate to sucker them into voting for him.

Time will tell.

I still remember when Bush took office in 2000 and some republicans said the deficit would be eliminated by 2010. Too bad Bush never got a clue.

Also still remember republicans saying the deficit would balloon and the stock market would suffer with Clinton as president.

Suckers, indeed.

[T Park]

So far so good from barack.

Whats funny though is saying "tax increases" are good, but then turns around and doesn't do it.

Whatever though, glad hes governing from the center.

If he does what Clinton did second term, cut spending, then the budget should be fine.

That is until the next unnecessary stupidass bailout.

[Wild Cobra]

If you Dems were expecting him to keep all his promises he made during his campaign y'all are going to spend the next four years having a meltdown :lol

This will be fun to watch. After melting down for 8 years, think they can survive another four?

[ChumpDumper]

I haven't seen any Democrat melt down over this. The board Republican meltdown of the last two weeks has eclipsed eight years of Nbadan and boutons rants.

Again, I have to ask: do you guys favor this course of action by Obama?

Yes or no.

[MannyIsGod]

The tax increases eventually have to come in order to start eliminating our national debt. But the fact of the matter is that right now is not the time to start increasing taxes in order to be fiscally responsible. Economic downturns can be curtailed big time by government spending - government deficit spending of course.

I don't see Progressives up in arms over this. I only see people who are wanting to find fault in Obama upset over this. Ideology is fine and good, but times like this call for pragmatism and the reality is now is not a good time to raise taxes. Too bad the resident Joe the Plumbers can't see the forest for the trees.

[Wild Cobra]

Again, I have to ask: do you guys favor this course of action by Obama?

Yes or no.

I forgot what the question is (course of action,) and I'm not a republican, so I blew it off. I'm not going to give reason to be called a republican. You call me bad enough names as it is...