[Peace-discuss] The Trickster is At It, Again

[C. G. Estabrook]

"...the president has not altered one iota his intention to sacrifice  
the legacy of the New Deal and the Great Society on the alter of  
deficit reduction. He simply asks that the Republicans make him look  
good doing it, by allowing some undetermined – and almost certainly  
token – taxes on the rich."
	Obama’s Phony “Pivot” on the Budget: The Trickster is At It, Again
	By Glen Ford
	09/20/2011
There is no “new” Obama. He’s the same guy who put Social Security on  
the chopping block before even taking the oath of office, and “gave  
away the social programs store” in an attempt for forge a “grand  
bargain” with the GOP. “He will accept anything that can remotely be  
construed as a tax hike on some wealthy people as sufficient cause to  
return to his previous passion for savaging Medicaid and Medicare.”  
This isn’t about tax fairness; it’s about preserving what’s left of  
the New Deal and the Great Society.

President Obama remains as eager as ever to slash away at Social  
Security, Medicare, Medicaid and every other social program despised  
by his corporate backers – his new tone of voice and body language  
notwithstanding. There has been no substantive “pivot” in his debt  
reduction policies, only a cynical, cosmetic change of posture.

Obama’s own words [7] betray him, if only people would actually  
listen. A straightforward reading of his remarks on Tuesday [8] shows  
the president has not altered one iota his intention to sacrifice the  
legacy of the New Deal and the Great Society on the alter of deficit  
reduction. He simply asks that the Republicans make him look good  
doing it, by allowing some undetermined – and almost certainly token –  
taxes on the rich.

This supposedly “new Obama” – which he hopes resembles the much older  
Obama of his supporters’ imaginations – claims he will resist future  
reductions in Medicaid and Medicare – that is, unless the Republicans  
allow additional taxes on corporations and the wealthy. But he is  
perfectly willing to chop away if the Republicans budge from their  
position. Knowing Obama as we do after two and a half years, he will  
accept anything that can remotely be construed as a tax hike on some  
wealthy people as sufficient cause to return to his previous passion  
for savaging Medicaid and Medicare. All the president now insists upon  
is that the cuts not be one-sided.

Obama claims he is removing Social Security from the chopping block,  
if only temporarily. But he is the one who put Social Security there  
in the first place before he was even sworn into office, and has kept  
it in jeopardy ever since. Administration officials are telling  
reporters that Obama is not ruling out resurrecting the draconian cuts  
he proposed back in July – if only the Republicans would put a little  
grease on the wheels on the corporate tax side.

So, let us be clear about what has happened. The Republicans have  
consistently balked at any tax increases for the wealthy. Obama, who  
caved to Republicans on the Bush tax cuts for the rich late last year,  
and who had been perfectly willing to give away the whole social  
programs store this summer, now primps and postures as if he is  
defending those same social programs. But he’s not. All he wants is  
Republican cover to carry out his own deficit reduction massacre.

The whole conversation is out of whack. Progressives should not  
tolerate the bargaining away of programs that are vital to the health  
and welfare of the people, in return for taxes on the rich that will  
only go to reducing the deficit. Higher taxes on Exxon or Wal-Mart,  
even if they can be extracted from the Republicans, cannot make up for  
Social Security benefits or health care programs for those in need.  
The rich can spare some of their money. Medicaid beneficiaries cannot  
spare life-sustaining services. Obama is making this into an argument  
about notions of tax fairness, when the real struggle at hand is to  
maintain the meager social services that the United States still  
provides to its citizens.

The truth is, Obama is presenting the people with a losing  
proposition. If he somehow wins tax increases on the rich, then he  
will reciprocate, eagerly, with massive cuts to people's programs, and  
then call it victory. Under those circumstances, the best we can hope  
for is gridlock. Any Obama deal, is a bad deal.

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com 
  [9].

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford at BlackAgendaReport.com 
  [10].
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20110921_gf_ObamaDebtScheme.mp3 
  [11]

Source URL: http://blackagendareport.com/content/obama%E2%80%99s-phony-%E2%80%9Cpivot%E2%80%9D-budget-trickster-it-again
Links:
[1] http://blackagendareport.com/category/other/ba-radio-commentary
[2] http://blackagendareport.com/category/political-economy/debt-crisis
[3] http://blackagendareport.com/category/us-politics/democrats
[4] http://blackagendareport.com/category/us-politics/obamarama
[5] http://blackagendareport.com/category/us-politics/supercommittee
[6] http://blackagendareport.com/sites/www.blackagendareport.com/files/obama_halo.jpg
[7] http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/09/obama-unveils-3-trillion-plus-debt-cut-plan/1?csp=34news
[8] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/us/politics/obama-vows-veto-if-deficit-plan-has-no-tax-increases.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2&pagewanted=print
[9] http://www.BlackAgendaReport.com/
[10] mailto:Glen.Ford at BlackAgendaReport.com
[11] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblackagendareport.com%2Fcontent%2Fobama%25E2%2580%2599s-phony-%25E2%2580%259Cpivot%25E2%2580%259D-budget-trickster-it-again&linkname=Obama%E2%80%99s%20Phony%20%E2%80%9CPivot%E2%80%9D%20on%20the%20Budget%3A%20The%20Trickster%20is%20At%20It%2C%20Again
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