About Face

And forward, march . . . until February 29.  House Speaker John Boehner succumbed to bipartisan pressure from the Senate and allowed the payroll tax cut to go through for the first two months of the new year.  Although it's only a temporary cut, and a one-year extension would be just as temporary (albeit longer) Boehner's attempt to play politics with a tax cut affecting the rapidly shrinking middle class backfired miserably, and he was forced to admit defeat.  Good grief, even Mitch McConnell and Scott Brown were flabbergasted with his attempt to nix this deal.    

With this victory in hand, President Obama can now try to negotiate for a longer middle-class tax break and perhaps be in a stronger position going forward in an attempt to get congressional Republicans to give up something for a change.  It won't be easy.  Senate Republicans still have the power of the filibuster, House Republicans remain under the influence of all that tea, and Republicans of all stripes insist on taxing wealth less so workers can pay more of the tax burden as a way of reviving the economy.  But Obama has succeeded in reminding people that the Republican party is not the party to trust to fight for the little guy.

Neither is the Democratic party, but that's another story.  Don't sell out on the Keystone XL pipeline in the negotiations that come after the holidays, Mr. President! :-O