Now I hate to think sometimes how long I've been around and paying attention to national politics but it has been one helluva long time.  I've seen a lot of water go under the bridge.  I've seen politicians pull just about every trick in the book and as a result I've developed a pretty damn good nose for when I'm being hornswaggled, bamboozled and otherwise lied to by the braying asses we send to Washington DC to look out for the nation's interests.  Now is one of those times.  But this is a time that will stand out because it is a pivotal moment for the nation.  Many will not see it as that for quite a while but it is. This rotten deal Obama is pushing is right up there with the TARP deal which many of us recognized as being a con from day one.  We screamed and yelled and told people not to buy the lies they were being sold, yet our politicians rolled over and played dead once again for their masters on Wall Street.  Among those rolling over was then Senator Obama.  What he voted for  in that deal stunk to high heaven.  There was no merit to the proposal which was clearly a massive giveaway to the big banks.  So too is this deal a rotten one that is yet anothe rmassive giveaway to the very same element and if it isn't stopped the negative consequences will be more and more difficult to reverse with each passing day.

It comes as no surprise really that the President caved in to the Republicans but he has compounded the problems his lack of political fortitude has produced by lying about the "compromise" he's trying to stuff down the throat of the nation in alliance with a political faction that is run by a pack of authoritarian sociopaths without the slightest interest in protecting this nation or it's people.  That alone is reason enough to oppose the President's rotten deal but over the past couple of days the President himself and his operatives have been boldly lying to the nation about this deal, what it means to the nation, how it is not negotiable, and how without it the nation's economy will plunge back into recession.  It is important to speak plainly at times such as this and no mince words so that the debate focuses not on the distractions the calculating liars wish the public debate to focus on but instead on the reality of what the deal portends.

Not only are the President and his men lying to the nation about all this but it is increasingly clear that they are completely out of touch not only with reality but with the sentiments and desires of the American people.  The biggest lie of them all is that the only way we can get what Obama, the swine Larry Summers, and Goolsbee characterize as the good stuff in the deal is to agree to doing something that is morally offensive, completely inexcusable and bad for the nation.  That is extending the tax cuts for the rich.  Nothing can justify that. It's a deal killer under any circumstances.  Period.  There was a time when Obama understood this.  We know because he was recorded on video and audio tape saying so hundreds and hundreds of times.

Obama specifically campaigned on letting that obscene tax bonanza for the wealthy expire.  He wasn't equivocal on that promise he was as clear as could be.  Why was he so clear about that?  Well, as we all know, everyone including the Republicans knew that tax cut for the rich was unnecessary and blew a gigantic hole in the federal budget, that it was totally unjustified, unfair to the average American, and wouldn't do a damn thing to help the economy and create jobs.  The only reason the Republicans didn't push through a tax cut solely for the rich was because they knew they had to sweeten the deal a bit in their usual way by making "across the board" cuts which always means the biggest pieces of pie go to those who need them least and the smallest slices to those who need it most.  They throw crumbs to the morally flexible Democrats to justify their perfidy and then get what they want.  This current deal is no different except this time the hustler trying to sell us on this steaming pile of filth is allegedly a Democrat.

Here's what Obama and his cowardly, out of touch posse just don't get: those tax cuts for the rich are unacceptable.  Let me repeat that in case it isn't clear: those tax cuts for the rich are unacceptable.  Period.  There is no circumstance under which those tax cuts become acceptable.  None!  There is no deal that can justify continuing that immoral ladeling of boodle upon the predator class for another second let alone two more years!  Again, no deal, not the one Obama so foolishly agreed to or any other, can make extending those tax cuts for the predator class acceptable.  This is the fundamental concept that Obama used to but now doesn't get, that Summers doesn't get, that Goolsbee doesn't get.  Furthermore, this is precisely the sort of morally corrupt dealmaking Obama campaigned against and upon which his hollow campaign claim of changing the way Washington works rested.  Some things are deal killers and if those tax cuts for the rich aren't deal killers then there's no such thing.  If Obama won't fight those then it becomes obvious there is simply nothing at all he will ever fight for. 

Obama and his cowardly crew think that it's more important to have some kind of deal, any kind of deal than to just tell the Republicans to go to hell, that we will not ever agree to their outrageous and morally offensive demand.  Period.  And yes, it's okay to tell them to go to hell and then let all of the tax cuts expire on January 1st.  the nation won't fall and that won't cause a double dip recession.  For Christ's sake, the only morons that think the depression is over are those that were never impacted by it anyway!  For the millions of normal Americans out there it is clear the depression has never really abated.  Numbers schmumbers!  We still have tens of millions who can't find work.  The depression is ongoing except on paper for wonks and Wall Streeters! 

Anyone with a lick of sense knows that if those pathetically small (and truth be told offensively small) tax cuts for the nonrich expire nobody will hardly notice.  My paycheck isn't going to be much affected by having that tax cut expire and if I have to pay twenty bucks a week more and those rich bastards are paying twenty thousand bucks more a week then all the better!  Go for it!  Show some balls by refusing to do something you know is wrong!  What is so God damned hard about this that these supposedly smart guys in DC just don't get? 

It is wrong to do something you know is bad for the country, that never should have been done in the first place and that is even more wrong now than ever.  Doing things you know are wrong is wrong.  It's just that simple and you don't have to agree to do wrong things.  You can fight those who want you to.  You can resist.  Or, as Obama always chooses to do, you can crumple like a tissue at the distant sound of the first shot being fired on the battle field, raise the white flag and ask the enemy how you can be of service.

But Obama, et al are so used to cooperating with evil, so used to agreeing to do things they know are wrong they simply don't get why it's such a big deal for all us "sanctimonious", "purist" idealogues who complain because they didn't get "everything" they wanted.  Well, those boys in the White House are making themselves feel comfortable by only listening to themselves and hearing what they want to hear as groupthinkers always do until the disasterous consequences of their bad decisions explode out in the open for all to see as this bad deal will surely do if allowed to go through.

The problem here is that this isn't simply a matter of a difference of opinion or perspective or degree.  This is a matter of fundamental principle. It is also a matter of common sense.  Nobody thinks the President and his people did a good job of negotiating this bad deal.  Nobody.  This deal just on the tax cut for the rich should be defeated but there are other concessions the President made that are also just as wrong, constitute very bad policy and are just flat out bad for the nation.  The President and his yes men clearly just do not get that this isn't merely a distasteful necessity that some of us don't like but something that is fundamentally against everything the Democratic Party has stood for since Franklin Roosevelt saved this country from the very same chaos and ruin the Republicans and Wall Street created the last time.  It just isn't okay to proceed down this road of bad deals for the nation and our people.  That's the losing strategy that got us into this mess to begin with!  There is an alternative: refuse to give in.

At his death knell press conference the other day, Obama, with a straight face, and his surrogates since then have actually tried to sell people on the idea that despite having caved in without a fight of any kind this time, in two years in the middle of the next election is when Obama will finally fight and refuse to let the tax cuts be extended again or made permanent. No kidding.  They are really peddling that line to the people and to the Democats in Congress.  How stupid can they really believe people to be?  Now this, is simply one of two things.  Either it is a bold faced lie by the capitulator in chief or it is a serious delusion on his part to think that anyone would believe that somehow he'll suddenly grow a pair and become willing to stand up for something.  That assertion, given his dismal reocord of capitulation thus far as Presdient simply has no crediblity at all and anyone who buys that line of crap deserves what they get.  It won't happen.  If he won't fight now when conditions are far more in his favor there isn't the slightest possibility he'll all of a sudden find courage to do it while running for re-election  If these tax cuts are allowed to metastasize for two more years they are as good as permanent.  Anyone who would believe otherwise is either deluding themselves or is hopelessly naive.

"No really, this time I mean it!  I really, really will stick to my guns two years from now!  I pwamiss" sounds an awful lot like elmer Fudd to me or good ol Wimpy's line from the Popeye cartoons: "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today!"  I ain't buyin it, apparently at least for today the House Dems ain't buyin it and nobody else should either.  If he won't fight now then he won't ever fight the Republicans.  We need to force the President to be a man about this and not run away which is very clearly what he's doing.

Now that's the central issue but there are others that make this horrendous deal even worse and in a nutshell they are the following:

Making the inheritance tax even lower than Bush proposed. What the fuck?  Really?  Really?  This is so stupid and so inexcusable it isn't even funny.  This is nothing more but another undeserved, unnecessary shower of largesse upon the people who need it least.  Totally unacceptable.  A deal breaker.  Nothing justifies this.  Nothing.  It's fundamentally bad policy, it's fundamentally in opposition to Democratic policy for the past 70 years.  Not even Reagan or that creep Bush the second went here.  Agreeing to this must make the Republican just laugh at Obama as possibly the worst negotiator in the history of the world!

"Temporary" elimination of part of the employee payroll contributions to Social Security.  What the fuck?  You're kidding right?  No? Really?  No way!  So let me get this straight, for the first time ever you are using the retirement money of our nation as a "temporary" economic stimulus?  Who was the genius that came up with this idea?  Any third grader can predict that when it comes time for this to expire the Republicans will shriek to the heavens about how the Democrats are raising your taxes and crucify the gullible Obama with it just as they did all his foolish concessions to them in the faux healthcare reform.  This will go right along with them making the very same argument about the egregious tax cuts for the rich. This is  a total loser.  A deal killer if ever there was one.  There is no other program that is more representative of the greatness and courage of the Democratic Party and its legacy to the nation than Social Security.  Suspending the payroll tax for Social Security or any portion of it is just as irresponsible and reckless as taking out a subprime rate loan we know we can't pay back.  This idiotic idea make this singular accomplishment of the New Deal vulnerable for the first time in its history.  How can the President ever agree to such a thing?  Why is he doing this?  This is just horrendously stupid not to mention wrong.  No.  No!  And Hell NO!  This is a rotten idea and plays right into Republican hands.  It's hard to believe a Democrat who was sober ever would have agreed to this.

As for the other provisions, all of which are nice things, they can be had later and the Democratic President and Senate have plenty of leverage to get them done.  Trading those remaining "goodies" including the unemployment benefits for the three horrific items above just isn't worth it.  Not even close.

The best strategy for the Presdient to pursue is simple.  He should call another press conference and declare to the nation that after further reflection he agrees with the vast majority of the Democrats in America and that he will not be blackmailed into supporting something that is wrong no matter what angle you look at it from and declare the deal dead.  Let all the tax cuts expire and start from scratch.  There has never been a time when Congress has failed to extend unemployment benefits in a recession and it may take some cajoling but eventually the Republicans will come along and yes, Mr. President you blame those rotten bastards for the suffering they have caused each and every day they don't come around and help extend those benefits.  You don't sit silent and let them characterize the situation with their usual lies and distortions: you fight!  The same is true for the debt ceiling which they are going to refuse to support.  Perhaps the single most astounding thing ever to come out of Obama's mouth was when he said the other day that he would take John Boehner "at his word."  Mr. President, do you know this guy at all?  He's a scumbag, a liar and an all around creep.  If there's anyone's word you know you can't trust it's that guy!  Jeeezus!

And this lie that cropped up yesterday being peddled by Summers that if this bad deal doesn't go through the economy will slump again?  Bullshit.  If we slump we won't be slumping far cause things haven't gotten much better out here in America boys.  If you had a single clue you'd know that already.  The reason the Democrats got their asses kicked was mainly because there still aren't any jobs and nobody sees you guys doing anything about it.  This rotten deal sure ain't the answer and to try and frighten and blackmail the nation into believintg this rotten deal is the only way or best way to stimulate the economy so things don't get worse is a lie and you know it's a lie.

Just as with TARP that we could all smell stinking no matter how far away we lived from DC, this piece of crap Obama is selling stinks too and needs to be rejected.  It's a damn shame he and his buddies in the Republican Party have become so close but sometimes you just have to do the right thing.  In this situation the right thing is to tell Obama and the Republicans very clearly: NO!

Addendum:

Here is link to an article appearing over at Salon by Prof. Julian E. Zelizer of Princeton that lays out the very serious issues regarding the horrendous decision to bargain with Social Security taxes extremely well.  It is exceptionally worthwhile reading particularly if you think that's not something to get too concerned about.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/barack_obama/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/12/10/zelizer_social_security_tax