The suggestion that Bush tax cuts should be renewed is a slap in the face to every hard-working American, but that suggestion may be nothing more than a political game, so let’s hope the Democrats don’t take the bait.
The bait the Republicans are dangling is extended unemployment benefits. Combine the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy with an extension for the middle class, throw in extended unemployment benefits, and bingo, you have a deal.
There is only one problem with this give-everyone-what-they-want solution, it doesn’t increase revenue, and therefore won’t create jobs. If joblessness does not improve over the next quarter, the Democrats will face the same problem of extending unemployment benefits again, but next time they won’t have anything to bargain with and the Republicans will take over the House and possibly the Senate after stalemating the Democrats and making them look like buffoons.
The Democrats must either garner 60 votes, which may happen after Senator Byrd of W. Virginia is replaced, or they must break the filibuster. The Democrats have the Constitutional option to break the filibuster with 51 votes in the Senate; however, they relinquished that option when they failed to pass the budget and therefore, lost the opportunity for reconciliation. Remember reconciliation, it’s what they used to pass health care reform.
Where are the leaders? You can bet Ted Kennedy would be fighting tooth and nail if he still stood on the Senate Floor, but unfortunately, we have Harry Reid leading the charge instead. Senator Reid has done a miserable job leading the Senate, and because of that very fact he may lose his seat to bigger buffoon, Sharron Angle.
The, so called fiscal conservative Republicans, obviously do not care about the deficit, if they did, they wouldn’t be pushing a Bush tax cut extension. Allowing those cuts to expire would put more cash in the treasury and help reduce the deficit.
The Democrats, for some reason I cannot phantom, have done little more than trip over their own shoe laces and have failed to show Americans they can lead. Making this situation worse is the mainstream news media that is playing the filibuster up like its Holy Grail, it’s not. The Democrats may well be preparing their last supper, but they really can’t blame the Republicans for that.
James Owens is a writer for the West Orlando News Online.
