IS THE PRESIDENT JUST “BAITING” THE GOP?
Why did the president propose raising taxes on the 1%?
Well, I guess it should have been expected. When the president went before the nation in his SOTU address and asked those that don’t pay taxes on their earnings from not working (i.e.: investments) to pay taxes like everyone that has to pay taxes on their hourly wages or salaries, the Republicans of course, immediately accuse the president of, “not being serious about governing”.
No, I’m not
kidding, that’s what they said after the president’s speech.
Virtually all
of the prospective Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential election,
including Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, have been saying that even
though the economy has improved, it was Obama’s fault that the middle class and
the poor’s wages have been totally stagnate.
(Let’s just ignore the fact that
wages have been stagnate for 2+ decades and that it’s the GOP that has been shooting down wage increases and all the American
infrastructure jobs bills.)
What the
president has proposed is that those in the top 1% that have been so fortunate
to have increased their wealth, should now pay taxes as do those that work for
a living and those that have been absorbing the brunt of the nation’s tax
liability. The president wants to use
that extra tax revenue to pay for his proposals for free tuition at US
community colleges and other helpful items for middle class families. Just as the American, K through 12 education
is free, he wants for K through 12 + 2 education, to be free. He realizes that where the US used to be
either 1st, 2nd or 3rd, in education, the US
is today somewhere between 20th and 30th, when compared
to other industrialized nations.
So, according
to these conservatives that say they want to help the poor and the middle
class, they sure don’t want to help those groups by having those that are their
largest campaign donators to pay more taxes.
The conservatives haven’t presented any real suggestions as to who
should pay for helping these two large groups of Americans that continue to pay
all the nation’s bills. But their
rhetoric is clear that they know in order to win back the presidency, they are
going to have to at least pay lip service as to why the GOP got put back into power in both houses of congress.
The
Republicans don’t seem to realize that they were voted in because Americans are
not a patient people and they were not feeling the economic recovery as they
now are today. The Republicans were basically voted
into office to either, “put up, or shut
up”. Now that the GOP has won in 2012, they actually have
to show that can govern, and they need to get that idea across to the public
before the next election. Even the new Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell,
realizes that if they don’t show that they have some good ideas for governing before the 2016 elections, they could lose one or both Houses. Plus they would have no chance to take the White House.
Actually, it’s
been fun watching what the president is doing and to witness the Republicans
reactions to his proposals.
The
conservatives seem to be asking, “Why did
the president use the State of the Union
address to propose hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes that will never
be enacted, and to also ask for funding a slew of new government programs that
have no chance of being approved?”
The president
is not stupid. He is aware that as
Politico wrote, “[His people] aren’t
holding their breath that Obama’s new proposals will pass Congress now that
Republicans control both chambers.”
The idea is
for the president to position himself as a defender of the “middle class” and put Republicans in the
“politically awkward” position of
resisting tax increases on the rich to pay for programs that benefit the middle
class.
In other
words, Obama’s move is completely and transparently political. He knows
Republicans have been working hard in trying to shed their image as the party
of the rich and powerful. Their new
focus, is as it is with Mr. Romney’s 180° turn from
being anti-the 47%, to supporting the 99%.
Their new goal appears to be for sending the message that they want to help
the poor and the working class.
Basically, the
president wants to taunt the GOP
into attacking his plan so he can accuse Republicans of fighting for the
wealthy. Within a couple of hours of the White
House announcement of Obama’s plan, his former speechwriter Jon Favreau Tweeted: “I see Obama’s tax plan has already baited
Republicans into making the argument that most annoys Americans about the GOP.” That is the objective of
President Obama’s plan: to bait the
Republicans.
The president
is already off presenting his plan all over the country. On Wednesday after the SOTU, the president went
to Boise, Idaho, and gave a similar speech as that he gave at the SOTU
speech. After that, he visited the Red states of Idaho and Kansas. Don’t be surprised if you see
him repeating that “baiting” message
all over the country.
The GOP is caught between a real rock and a
hard place. What should they do? Not
take the president’s bait? Not argue the
merits of Obama’s plan? Should they just
ignore it and pass proposals of their own to help the poor and the
middle-income families? The president got his one night at the rostrum of the House of Representatives to make his
case, but Republicans do control both the House
and the Senate. Should they move forward
with their own serious plans to help those who are struggling in the Obama
recovery and then dare Obama and the Democrats to oppose them?
But will they
do that?
I personally
don’t think that’s in the Republican’s DNA.
To do that,
they would actually have to stand for what they say they want to do for helping
the poor and the middle class.
For the last
six years, they have spent night and day working against everything the
Democrats have tried to do to help the average working American. Why should they change that approach now?
But most
importantly, “Is that kind of change even
possible for true conservatives?”
I think that’s
asking more than they could ever handle.
Copyright G.Ater 2015
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