My response to the President’s speech?
You know, at some point, you just have to stop listening to people who always end being proven wrong.
And to help nudge you along, here’s a reminder of what some people, some outsiders, some people who are scorned as “the professional left” and as “bloggers in their mother’s basement” were saying, back at the time President Obama agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts in December 2010, last year:
In agreeing to this tax cut deal with Republicans pre-emptively, the President unfortunately has hampered himself, and the Democratic Party as well when he adopts and advances Republican right-wing framing on the tax cuts issue. Also, in agreeing to the payroll tax holiday, which was what Republicans wanted (not what Democrats wanted), President Obama is helping set up Social Security for the incoming attacks from Republicans.
SNIP
Also, since the debt ceiling raise was not included in the tax cuts deal, it gives Republicans even more ammo to demand further spending cuts and benefit cuts from Social Security, Medicare, and other social programs in January when the next Congress convenes. By not including the debt ceiling in the tax cuts deal, President Obama is allowing the further taking of hostages from the American populace to the benefit of Republicans and their Wall Street benefactorers.
-- from The Mother Of All Diaries On Bush-Obama Tax Cuts, by slinkerwink, Thu Dec 09, 2010