Now that the Republican plan B has imploded, Obama needs to make it clear: No cuts to social security, including chained CPI. No cuts to Medicaid. No cuts to Medicare. Tax cuts for income over 250k must be allowed to expire. And, he will take that stand right over the cliff.
Obama had the wind at his back. The public was with him. No more tax cuts for income over 250k. No cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Then, inexplicably, he offers up the chained CPI cut. Was he hoping his generous offer to the GOP would encourage them to act in kind? I don't know. What I do know is the public was with Obama. He made a huge concession for no understandable reason. The GOP basically gave him and his offer the finger.
Now Obama has a huge opportunity. Given the embarrassing failure of the GOP to pass a plan B, he can walk back his offer. He can say, you know what, it's the holidays, I was feeling overly festive, I misspoke. The offer is rescinded. I'm more than prepared to go over the fiscal cliff to protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and to reinstate tax fairness.
Once over that cliff, Republicans have a clear incentive to work with Obama. It's the only way they can walk back some of the spending cuts in the sequester that they find unpalatable. It's the only way they can claw back some of those tax cuts/. It's the only way they can escape the wrath of the American public when they have to explain why they are standing in the way of newly proposed tax cuts.
For those who argue we must stick with Obama on this. We have to compromise. We can't push him away from an preemptive agreement. You need to know federal domestic spending is at its lowest level since the Eisenhower days. This during a poor economy. That's outrageous. These concessions in the name of avoiding higher stake consequences have left us with a federal government that is little more than a military and an inadequate retirement plan. We can not keeping ceding ground to the GOP. It is having real, long-term consequences that we are going to feel for years to come.
The President needs to make it clear: No cuts to Medicare, no cuts to Medicaid, no cuts to Social Security. No more tax cuts for income over 250k.
