Obama and the tax cut issue

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Kobi

I am getting a little concerned with how Obama is handling this issue. I am surprised at how he is spending so much time negotiating with the Republican leadership while seemingly ignoring his own party opposition in the House.

Given the coming changing of the guard come January, is this a prudent approach or an example of the Stockholm syndrome?

Discuss.

I think that Obama is demonstrating the advanced stages of Battered-Democrat-Syndrome. In year one, I had thought--as it turns out mistakenly--that Obama was some kind of political jujitsu master and that he would allow the GOP to to demonstrate just how uncooperative they were being and then, just when they were getting cocky, toss them over his shoulder with a flip of the wrist all the time looking serene. That is not what I’m seeing. Rather, I'm seeing him capitulate to the GOP time and time again. What's worse is that he does it before negotiations.

My understanding of compromise was that you give up something you want and I give up something I want and we meet in the middle. But that's not what Obama is doing. Instead, he gives up *everything* he wants and gets nothing in return. Hell, the Republicans turn their noses up at their OWN plans if Obama adopted them.

Now, I've read two op-eds basically saying that all of us liberals who aren't Obama, Larry Summers or Tim Geitner don't understand that Obama won. But if this is a win, I'm not sure what defeat would look like.

Cheers
Aj