President Obama is in a pickle.

[kentuck]

.


Businesses are not creating jobs, even though they are sitting on over $1 trillion dollars of available capital. Why? Because of the "uncertainty", of course. The Bush taxcuts are about to expire and Big Business is going to show America just who is the boss. Not only will they not create any jobs, they will persuade the Congress not to vote any unemployment checks for the unemployed. If the horses don't crap, the sparrows don't eat.

So the crusade has begun. Extend the Bush taxcuts if you want to see more jobs or else.

But let us not forget how well they worked under George W Bush. We had the slowest decade of jobs ever recorded. At the same time, it created a huge deficit that Barack Obama inherited.

The Republicans say they want to cut the deficit and create more jobs and the way they plan to do that is by cutting taxes, just like they did before. We can only hope the President and the Democrats do not fall for that. We know already that it doesn't work. They had eight years to prove it. We can expect the Republicans to fall for it once again. It has to be better than the "socialism" of Barack Obama, they say.

The President is going to have to bite the bullet. If the Democrats lose the House and/or Senate, then so be it. He will still have his veto. Under no circumstances should the deficit-driven taxcuts of George W Bush be extended. He should not surrender to the over-whelming pressure to cut taxes at this time.

Most Democrats are hunkered down and hoping to survive the next election. They should be out there fighting but they are not. The President must feel like Jimmy Carter - his own Party is deserting him. They are falling prey to the Republican propaganda. If they do, they do not deserve to win.

Eighteen months is simply not enough time to clean up the mess left behind by the last Administration. It was much worse than any of us ever imagined. Unfortunately, the President and the Democrats attacked the problems by nibbling at the edges. That was their mistake. Now, they will pay the price in the next election. The country will pay a very heavy price if the Republicans are put back in charge at this time in history. Americans need to vote as if their lives depended on it, because they do. If you think that is an exaggeration, just wait...



...

[NNN0LHI]

1. Where the fuck you been?

I was worried you got sick or something.

Glad to see you back.

Don

[Enrique]

2. American workers are in the pickle

Obama will be fine.

[jwirr]

3. Even those of us here on DU forget that it is going to take a long time

to clean this mess up and especially when things like the Gulf oil spill are added on. I think the word patience has been taken out of the dictionary. My father used to point out that it took FDR 4 terms to get the mess Hoover had out. Real change does not come easily.

[Greyhound]

9. Your use of the hemorrhaging in the GOM is quite ironic.

And while drawing analogies between the Great Depression and this global disaster can be drawn to give us some general direction, they are occurring in completely different environments.

What Obama & Co. are doing/failing to do in response would not have worked then and are only exacerbating the problems now.

[Donnachaidh]

10. kind of hard to be patient when you lose your job, the government stops your benefits

and your family is going without FOOD.

Many here on DU obviously have no clue what real middle america is going through - and don't give much of a damn, either. :shrug:

[nightrain]

15. quite true it seems...

[MadMaddie]

20. You should be more specific when you say the Government

stops benefits....the Repugs stopped the benefits. Let's put the blame where it needs to be. They have done nothing for the American worker.

That is not to say that the Dems MUST create a "Works" program to get people back to work. This is my biggest disappointment.

[Donnachaidh]

23. sorry, I'm not willing to turn this into a political moment -- the GOVERNMENT stopped their benefit

Again -- when people are looking at HUNGER and HOMELESSNESS as their only option -- does it mean anything to THEM which side is the purported *bad guy*? Fer chrissake already -- it's the POVERTY that is front and center!

[MadMaddie]

25. I agree that we have a huge issue

but if the Senate the one body that is responsible for getting it through is hemmed up - meaning all or most of the Dems approved it and ALL Repugs did not support it....how do you seperate politics from the issue of poverty and people starving?

The Dems cannot force the Repugs to act compassionate...what is your solution to get the Repugs to act compassionatly? The flaw is in the Senate......it is political.

[Donnachaidh]

26. and there is nothing at all the Dems can use? Sorry, I don't buy that.

People are in DIRE awful need -- and I'm not buying that the Dems have used up all their options. Not buying it at all. And I'm sick to death of the *you gotta vote to keep them out* fearmongering popping up. Because as it stands RIGHT NOW -- there is NOTHING *worse* the Pukes could do to the middle class that is being devastated by the INACTION on the part of the DEMS - short of lining the poor up against the wall and shooting them outright.

NOTHING. Because the party of HOPE is allowing the few safety nets we have to be shredded, because they want everyone to look like they can *play nice* during a photo-op. While people get tossed out of their homes, or sit in those homes and STARVE.

[CTyankee]

27. well, if the repubs retake congress all that work to get health care reform

could go up in smoke. that's the reality. they will waste time and money "investigating" the obama admin.

it's a hard place to be and I get what you are saying. it's a choice between bad and worse. worse is losing in november.

[Igel]

28. Try this.

The big sticking point is pay-go for the unemployment benefits. That's the official repub line.

Meanwhile, dems are saying that they're fiscally responsible. A recent HR emphasized how fiscally responsible they were--excluding emergency legislation.

My problem is that they knew 6 months ago that unemployment benefits would need extending. It's an emergency measure by design, not because it crept up unexpectedly. This is disingenuous, gaming the system even as the Dem leaders argue that they're in favor of full transparency and fiscal responsibility. It's status as an emergency measure can easily be seen as something that is more important than the measure itself.

Nonetheless, okay--here's a suggestion. Put the benefits under pay-go and stuff the repubs' issue up their backside. They either then vote for it or the Dems have a wonderful set of sound bites to backfoot the repubs.

In other words, there's a compromise offered to resolve the impasse. One side says how horrible it is that their opponents demand a compromise in order to do the right thing and help the poor, everybody get behind the Dems in bipartisan solidarity. The other side says that if helping the poor is really so important, what's the problem with a compromise that helps the poor as well as serving a budget goal that even the Dems agree on--isn't resistance to the enemy become more important than the goal of helping the poor?

The problem is that each side is only really interested in talking to supporters, most of which say, "You're so, so right."

Then again, I just watched Wajda's movie "Katyn" and that's enough to induce massive amounts of ambiguity and cynicism in anybody. Great movie, by the way, even if some would take issue with having their ox gored.

[dana_b]

22. you were reading my thoughts!!

I know too many folks who are losing jobs, homes, businesses and are worried how they are going to survive NOW - not in a year or so. "Patience" is now a luxury.

[Bitwit1234]

16. But the ignorant in this country are being swayed by the

constant bombarding of the republican press. They are ignorant, they are stupid and they love Fox too damn much. If they were intelligent enough to really understand what is going on there wouldn't be a republican left in congress, and hey would kick the blue dogs to the curb also.

[walldude]

29. Change takes even longer when you continue policies that got us into this mess

in the first place. I have plenty of patience but no tolerance for going in the wrong direction.

[nightrain]

4. knr. Obama is in a pickle on a lot of fronts. We're going to see what he's made of....

I think we voted for someone who could and would confront the tough issues and not cede ground to corporations, we'll just see where Obama stands, or if he caves.

[Greyhound]

5. Let us also not forget the open blackmail of the nation in Oct. 2008.

That so many continue to pretend, have convinced themselves, that this is just another bump in the road of American history and that somehow more of the same inaction, inattention, and "nibbling around the edges" of the existing systems will restore them to their cozy indifference, is both disheartening and terrifying.

[jtuck004]

6. The reason businesses are not creating jobs is lack of demand

for what they produce. Doing things that increase the ability of people to spend will create jobs. Extending unemployment, or, better yet, putting 10 million people to work on infrastructure projects or insulating homes and businesses, would do more to rejuvenate our economy than any tax cut. Several other things need to be done, such as providing business and technical training to adults, start up assistance for business, re-tooling manufacturing, R&D, a big push for some big technological changes.

More tax cuts just allows business to sit on more money.

Putting the ability, and willingness, to buy back into the hands of consumers is the only thing that will drive jobs in a consumer-based society.

[Rex]

7. He really is, a bad bind.

I don't see anyway out for him at this moment.

[KharmaTrain]

8. So Much For Being "Non Partisan"

Democrats should learn that as long as rushpublicans will not on write rules but break them for their corporate master, you'll never get their support. Attempts at trying to placate and cajole the banksters and large corporates to spread the wealth is a joke. These people have had their way for the past 30 years and their influence is deep. The shame belongs on the Senate that has made it all but impossible to pass any meaningful reform and an administration that accepts half measures that don't work rather than real reform and reregulation. Unfortunately the "blame booosh" lines are getting very old (even if they are true) and it looks like the corporates are willing to let the country go to hell to protect their profits and tax breaks.

[notadmblnd]

11. If corporations won't create jobs

then the administrations should (all kinds of public work jobs) then tax corporations up the ass to pay for them!

[L0oniX]

31. [phone]

[Trillo]

12. Maybe some day our leaders will figure out that we have a Trickle Up system,

and if they want to stimulate the economy, they need to get disposable income into the poor folks wallets and purses. A living wage is one way to do that.

However, I'm also fine with outlawing money. Such a Star Trek TNG dream!

[bluestateguy]

13. Unrecced.

Doom and Gloom crap.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Unfortunately, the pickle barrel is owned and controlled by the corporations.

[mike_c]

17. obama is only in a pickle because he's trying to play both sides at once...

...and they're simply not compatible. The wealthy and corporate class want more power and less accountability. Oh, and all the money in the country, too. Obama serves them. He is their lackey in the White House, at least until the next lackey is installed.

At the same time, he's trying to at least give the appearance of giving a rat's buttocks about the middle and working classes. Therein lies his pickle. He's in it because he cannot just choose his side. The democrats, whom he represents just as surely as he represents himself, need votes from those unwashed masses, whether they like it or not. But make no mistake. Obama does not work for us. He works for the MIC and for the financial sector. He works for the Pentagon. He works for BP and the other petroleum giants. He works for whomever is raking in the biggest profits. Obama does not work for you and I one second longer than it takes to obtain our votes.

[Davis_X_Machina]

18. He's on Easy Street, politically. All Obama has to do...

...is nationalize the banks, nationalize BP, extend unemployment indefinitely, open Medicare to all, end DODT, repeal DOMA, enact EFCA, close Gitmo, and lift the few remaining Federal firearms regulations and he's all set.

And don't talk to me about 'Congress' and 'filibusters'.

Because I read DU religiously I know he can do all of these by executive order, signing statement, or sheer charisma -- no Congress needed.

[Vinca]

19. They can cut, cut, cut taxes for big business (assuming they pay any)

and the only jobs they'll create will be in China, Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia and every other country that isn't America.

[pinboy3niner]

21. Tax cuts for the wealthy will not be extended, Gibbs said today on MTP

He also said that taxes will not be increased for the middle class. This was in the first quarter-hour segment of Meet the Press on MNBC.

[deaniac21]

24. I'm not worried at all. The president has said several times that

he is going to focus on jobs like a laser.

[L0oniX]

30. Anyone with balls would tell the fucking corporations that they are losing ...

the tax break ---> because they didn't create jobs!