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Monday, December 3, 2012

Not too long
ago, Barack Obama sat down with Congress to talk about avoiding the looming
fiscal cliff.  Everybody had smiles and looked as if they were in a conciliatory
mood.  What everybody didn't realize was that Barack Obama had drawn his line in
the sand about raising taxes a very reasonable amount for the wealthy all along, and when he
won the election he stated clearly he wouldn’t budge on it. 

I guess Republicans didn’t believe him.  Bullies always underestimate their adversary.  Boehner was Mr. Nice Guy
personified so long as he thought Obama could be pushed aside and forced into
compromise.  Pretty soon the smiles were fading and reality hit home.  Obama is
not going back on his word to the majority of the American people.  He’s always
said his main goal is to empower the middle class again. 

The election
might have been close but he won because enough middle class Americans were
sensible enough to understand that he’s a man of his word and knows how to
achieve his goal, and how to stand firm in a storm.  He stood it when he had a
lot to lose.  Now he has nothing to lose, except what history will say about him
when his term is over.  I don’t think that motivates him in the slightest. 

In any case,
probably the only people in the world who don’t understand what incredible ground
he’s covered and what he’s achieved, or the sound good sense of what he’s
proposing now re taxes, are Republicans, so he doesn’t have much
to worry on that account.  Because if they refuse to budge, they will go down in
history as pushing America into another recession, and they have the next
election to worry about. 

They already
have a problem with voters because their support base is dying off, literally. 
They don’t know how to reach out to the youth or to minorities or to women. 
They appear not to be able to understand that this is because of their
policies.  I don’t know what they’re hoping for – some kind of miracle, I guess,
where they don’t change and the impact their behaviour has already had on
America somehow miraculously ceases.  I
think that’s called magical thinking. 

If America
goes over the fiscal cliff, nobody in the world except Republicans will think
it’s Obama’s fault.  Republicans can sulk and pout and bitch and moan as much as they
want, but Mitt Romney tried that a short while ago.  It didn’t
work then and it’s not going to work now.  The mind-boggling thing is that Obama
is simply calling for a tax raise to what rates were during Clinton’s time –
when the economy was booming. 

The resistance to it would be laughable if it wasn't terrifying for how it shows Republicans' willingness to let a whole country go to the dogs so 2% don't have to pay 4,6% more tax - which is such a tiny amount for them they won't even notice it.  How long does the world have to be dominated by these fools?  Just as long as ordinary, sensible people let them get away with it, I guess.