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THE CONSERVATIVE REVIEW - December 14, 2010
The Making of a President
by: Pat Buchanan
If the Pelosi-Reid liberals are in a hissy fit over the
tax-cut deal negotiated by Barack Obama, they have only
themselves to blame.
With their three-to-two majorities, Nancy Pelosi and Harry
Reid could have forced the Republicans to vote again and
again during the election for "tax cuts for the rich."
They never did. Now, what else could Obama do after his
own party left him with lousy field position and the
clock running out?
"He could have fought!" the left howls. "He could have
told the Republicans, 'No way do I sign a bill that gives
tax cuts to the rich.'"
Had Obama thrown down that gauntlet, Republicans would
have blocked all action in the Senate until Dec. 31. The
lame-duck session would have ended in deadlock. There
would have been no extension of tax cuts for the middle
class, no START treaty on nuclear weapons, no extension
of unemployment benefits, no vote on the DREAM Act for
amnesty for illegal aliens, no vote on "don't ask, don't
tell."
Obama's defiance would have accomplished -- exactly
nothing.
In January, a Republican House and more conservative
Senate would have passed an extension of all the Bush
tax cuts, and Obama would have had to veto the bill and
let them all expire. The resulting tax surge would have
caused chaos in the economy and been a disaster for the
president who is supposed to be running the country.
But the Republicans would have caved, claims the left.
Don't bet on it. Mitch McConnell and the GOP senators
know -- after what happened to Charlie Crist, Arlen
Specter, Michael Bennett and Mike Castle -- that the
retribution of the Tea Party is the threat they face,
not the anger of Barack Obama.
Republicans won the battle because they were united.
All 42 senators agreed nothing moves in Harry's house
until the tax cuts are voted on. And they took that
stand because they truly believe you do not raise taxes
in a recession and because they were willing to let all
the tax cuts expire on Jan. 1 rather than abandon a
principled position.
If liberals thought the GOP would crack, Obama knew
better.
And considering the deal he came out with, when he walked
in with not even a small pair, his party should be
congratulating him, not cussing him out.
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True, the tax cuts are extended for all, even those earn-
ing more than $250,000. But only for two years. If liberals
believe ending tax cuts for the rich is a winning issue,
why are they screaming? They will have a chance to make
that case in the middle of the 2012 election, when all the
tax cuts will be up for renewal again.
On the estate taxes, Obama agreed to exempt the first $5
million for an individual and $10 million for a couple,
and impose a 35 percent top tax rate.
This is a relief for small businessmen and farmers who
want to deed all they have built up to their kids. This
is a compromise between what the left wants and what some
of us believe should happen: elimination of the estate
tax.
Death taxes do not raise enough to justify the IRS agents
working on them and the accountants and lawyers who spend
careers helping seniors put together wills and trusts to
protect wealth on which they have been paying taxes all
their lives.
Obama also won a 13-month extension of unemployment
benefits, twice what Democrats had pushed for.
Obama won a 30 percent cut in payroll taxes for workers in
2011. The Social Security tax falls from 6.2 percent of
wages to 4.2 percent. This will put tens of billions in
the pockets of consumers.
Businesses will be allowed to "expense" investments in
equipment such as computers. This means they can write
off the entire cost on their corporate income tax in the
first year. This will spur job-creating new investment.
With this deal, Obama is conceding that the Pelosi-Reid
stimulus approach did not work, that tax cuts must be
tried to get the economy moving, that, for the next two
years, he must make his deals with Republicans.
The Obama-McConnell pact is a recognition of reality and
a sign of maturity.
In these negotiations, Obama acted like a president. He
went in with a weak hand and came out with half the pot.
He got something, where the Democrats now berating him
got nothing.
If the left hasn't realized it yet, Obama has: Liberals
have lost the country. The liberal hour is over in
America and the West.
With these deals, however, comes one big problem. None
of these tax cuts or spending hikes is paid for. A
trillion dollars is being added to the long-term deficit
and debt. And the plunge in the bond market is signaling
that the money power thinks that the United States'
credit rating is heading south.
The clock on the debt bomb has just been moved a few
minutes closer to midnight.
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