And guess which party he is accusing of playing Scrooge to his Santa Claus:
President Obama cast himself in the role of Santa Claus during a visit to a toy factory Friday, suggesting that Republican lawmakers should get only a lump of coal in their stockings if they don’t work with him this month to extend tax cuts for the middle class.
“I’ve been keeping my own naughty-and-nice list for Washington,” Obama told a crowd gathered on the factory floor of the Rodon Group facility, flanked by elaborate roller coasters and Ferris wheels built of Tinkertoys and K’Nex building toys. There will be some members of Congress who deserve toys this holiday season, he suggested, “and some who don’t.”
Obama didn’t leave the metaphor without conjuring up the image of Vice President Joe Biden in the White House playing with K’Nex, but the president’s message was more than evident by that point: If Republicans don’t extend the middle-class tax cuts, they’ll ruin the holiday.
[...]
The workshops and floors of the factory provided a vivid backdrop for the president’s event. As he spoke to about 350 employees and Democrats from the area, he stood near a giant American flag made of K’Nex and several elaborate toys made from the company’s building pieces.
The company has expanded its domestic operations in recent years, and the president cited Rodon officials as an example of an employer creating jobs in the U.S.
A dent in demand would hurt factories like Rodon’s as well as retailers all over the country, Obama said.
“That’s sort of like the lump of coal you get for Christmas,” he said. “That’s a Scrooge Christmas.”
Obama makes a lousy Santa. First of all, he’s not very jolly. Plus, his definition of “naughty” and “nice” leaves much to be desired. The president has been very naughty this past year, and especially the last few weeks as he tries to avoid the fiscal cliff. In fact, he is not negotiating. His proposal to raise taxes with unspecified cuts to the budget while borrowing $50 billion more for a “stimulus” package is so ridiculous that some Republicans laughed at it.
But Obama may have the last laugh after all. Once the GOP made it known they were open to tax increases, the president upped the ante, proposing $1.6 trillion in revenue over the next 10 years. This is far more than any Republican is willing to go and, coupled with the unspecified amount of budget cuts (of which entitlements are probably not on the table) and the positively bizarre notion of another stimulus package, the president has guaranteed that Republicans will not accept the deal.
Of course, the press is already blaming the GOP for being obstructionists — just as Obama knew they would. Ergo, Obama is sitting pretty while Republicans are scrambling to come up with some kind of a counteroffer. With time running out, the prospect of a significant breakthrough fades considerably.
Something that Santa had planned all along.
Like Global Thermonuclear War or Tic-Tac-Toe, the only way to win is to not play.
Here’s what I think the House Republicans should do: Pass a permanent extension of the current tax rates and then go home. Go back to their districts and start engaging in some retail politics. Hold townhall meetings, do interviews with local media, even go door to door. Explain that they voted against raising taxes, but they weren’t going to play the Democrats’ politics of division. Everyone needs to pay their fair share (that’s the beautiful thing about Obama’s idiotic catch phrase, since it’s meaningless it can be used to support any position, even ours). Point out how much more in taxes the rich already pay. And explain that Obama claimed raising taxes on the rich would balance the budget, so if taxes go even higher it should be even easier to balance so there is no need to raise the debt ceiling. At some point you’ve borrowed enough money.
Problem is, it isn’t just taxes and deficit spending that are strangling the economy into nonexistence, it’s regulation – and especially Obamacare.
The politicians need to go back to their districts and hit that message over and over again, very hard.
The biggest economic story of 2013 – disappearance of full-time jobs with benefits
Now anybody with functioning synapses could have predicted this. And it’ll only get worse.
One of the main albatross’s around Repubs necks is of their own making. They utterly, completely and steadfastly refuse to turn the tables. And it is not as if they haven’t enough ammunition. Firstly, they can provide – through op-eds/editorials/ad campaigns/public forums a laundry list of job killing regulations/obstructions, which are rightly dumped at the Radical-in-Chief’s door.
Instead, an often teary, blood shot eyed Repub speaker pretends to represent Republican interests, but he is woefully lacking in mettle to do so! He is a dishrag.Pathetic.
And if one cannot bring a gun to a gunfight, opting for a knife instead (and one made to cut putty) then who else is there to blame, but the sorry assed Repubs?
One must be able to throw more ammunition back at ones opponent, rather than less. And acting as if the Dems aren’t the sole cause of the fiscal cliff (think back to 2008), proves the Repub leadership have crap for brains.
Okay, we know that the media is in the Liar/Thug-in-Chief’s hip pocket, but there are many ways to get the message across. The Repubs just can’t muster the will.
Perhaps they need lessons from Rules for Radicals – http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/07/01/leftist-dogma-the-same-world-over-freedom-loving-people-beware-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki-32-2/..it couldn’t get any worse….
Truth be told, Repub leadership are immensely inadequate and a TOTAL embarrassment!
I’m going to disagree. They should capitulate except the “stimulus spending” and the debt ceiling. They should say this is the best “deal” they can get because the President is out selling it and House and Senate Democrats have proposed NOTHING. So they are going to take $1.6 in tax hikes but not so that it can be spent on new spending because they were charged with deficit reduction by the credit rating agencies. If Democrats want more stimulus, the GOP will happily look at the spending cuts they are willing to trade for stimulus spending. They will accept the slight possibility of $400 billion in cuts and hope the WH outlines those cuts in their February budget proposal. They should hit the Sunday circuit and say that they are essentially betraying their voters to prevent another recession because vulnerable Americans do not deserve more job loss and wealth loss in the name of partisan politics. They should make clear that they do not believe this is the right direction to take the country but it is the best the “winner” is willing to accept. They should be clear that the President has spent a lot of political goodwill on this intransigence. And they should make clear that they hope the President is right and large tax increases on just 2% of households is what will restore consumer confidence and economic vitality. The best thing for ALL Americans is economic growth. If the President is right, the debt ceiling negotiation will be much easier. If the GOP is right and the President’s plan does little to improve the economic situation, perhaps the Democrats will be more willing to come to the table with more serious offers
Now is the time to let Obama have everything he wants.
Don’t worry about 2014
Force people to wallow in Democratic Party misery
It’s up to the individual Citizens to figure out which end of the Obama turd is clean
US family net worth at a 43-year low. Will that mean Obama stops blaming Bush and starts blaming Nixon?
Let the Bush era tax cuts expire. That is the only way this nation (or should I say 53%) will learn about excessive taxation and out of control spending. At least everyone will have a stake in the “pain” of increased taxes, not just the “class warfare rich”.
I’d rather get a lump of coal for Christmas trying to stop the Democrats from implementing total socialism in this country, rather than getting a tube of KY Jelly, which is what you’re going to need if the Democrats keep spending and taxing us into oblivion. Personally, I’d rather fight standing up than bend over and let them do whatever they want. But that’s just me.
Keep it simple, st_p_d.
The executive proposes and the US Congress funds. No “balanced budget,” NO M-O-N-E-Y!
President Obama has spent more than ALL OTHER PRESIDENTS COMBINED in the entire history of the United States of America.
AND…no Democrat thinks any spending needs to be cut?
Three dollars in spending cuts for every increase in revenue or the GOP walks.
Short and sweet.
I might also ask, is anyone else concerned that Obama has proposed a unilateral ability to increase spending ad infenitum whithout the Constitutional approval of Congress?
I don’t know – we haven’t had a budget during the entire obummr presidency. What makes you think they’ll pass one now? They’ll just “deem” it passed and spend as usual.
Good one here.Force OKardashian Klaus to get old school. Make him submit a budget, take it to congress and lobby for its passing.(obamba would actually have to work,not that he knows how)If it does not pass then all bets are off.
How Do You Kill 11 Million People?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH_Izul6J5M&feature=player_embedde
There are 545 Directly, Legally, Morally, Individually Responsible for every problem America faces. 1 President, 9 on the Supreme Court, 100 in the Senate, 435 in the House of Representatives. This is it in nut shell!
IRS Slammed by Audit: May Have ‘Erroneously Paid’ Contractors $927,992 By Penny Starr November 29, 2012
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/irs-slammed-audit-may-have-erroneously-paid-contractors-927992
It’s not that I object to Republican lawmakers getting lumps of coal, it’s the flaming sack of poop Obama wants to put in the nation’s stocking that has me exercised.
It’s not worth getting up anymore.. I pray for the night I don’t, yet I wish to see the final destruction of a once great nation, to confirm that a Racist Communist Socialist Anti-American Anti-Christ is responsible.
Yeah – we’re screwed, so I’d rather a demonrat be in charge than a stupid rino!
I’ll add knex to the list of companies I won’t do business with.
If there’s any hope here for conservatives, it’s this: next year will be a shitstorm so bad, taxes , obamacare, depression and inflation, plus whatever fresh horrors the dems have in store, it will be harder and harder to make the case that Obama has absolutely no culpability in the massive mess he and his cohorts have inflicted on this once great country.
The Republicans aren’t serious about opposing Obama.
Back in the 60′s the Left came up with a plan to destroy our country called the Cloward and Piven plan. It’s main goal is to deliberately bankrupt the country through welfare state spending and forcing us into an economic collapse, it is also known as the Manufactured Crisis strategy.
The Democrat party has been following this plan since the days of FDR and Obama has put it into overdrive, yet no one calls him on it. This plan is hardly a secret, the only reason it isn’t common knowledge is the Republicans keep their mouths shut. The Cloward and Piven plan ought to be taught in grade school civics classes so that every American can be familiar with it from an early age.
But, when was the last time any Conservative ever accused the Left of deliberately spending us into a crisis ? The Conservatives ought to be questioning the good faith of the Democrats every day they run up the tab on our national debt. The fact that they don’t do it makes me question their good faith as the Democrats “loyal opposition”, they seem a bit too loyal to be a true opposition.
“The Democrat party has been following this plan since the days of FDR”
For the record, I know it may sound contradictory to claim this strategy was devised in the 60′s, and then claim it has been practiced since the 30′s. what I meant is that it was formalized and given a name in the 60′s, but has been part of the Democratic playbook for far longer.
“The Democrat party has been following this plan since the days of FDR”
Just for clarification; I know it may sound contradictory to claim this strategy was created in the 60′s and then state it has been in use since the 30′s.
What I meant, is that it was formalized and given a name in the 60′s, but has been part of the Democratic playbook for far longer.
Uhhh… not everyone is keeping their mouths shut. Check out what Glen Beck has had to say about Cloward/Piven.We are aware, just too dumb to take action.
Obama is engaging in pure mockery of not only Republicans but the entire country. In other words he’s STILL using the Rules for Radicals “ridicule” method; setting the narrative early and letting the MSM propaganda arm run with it. This means that zero effort has to be made to pound any opposition. Obama has already signalled (set the narrative) that he’s gonna bypass Congress again – another Alinsky rule; which requires constant flows of panic-making rhetoric to overwhelm the fearful. Not a peep out of Congress regarding this administration’s unbelievable introduction of new and punitive anti-freedom regulations being trucked out of the WH on a daily basis. We have a Congress full of children.
My observation is that Republicans in Congress do NOT understand the enemies of freedom. They are clueless. However; I maintain that Obama is now a king without a country and that his “influence” will soon be null and void is he continues down this ideological and lawless path; overtaken and made irrelevant by his own hand.
We need to continue to fight this guy. What is the alternative? The response to the windbag in chief should be. “no new taxes”. Until we see your list of $300 billion in entitlement reductions “not cuts in rate of increase”, we will say and do nothing.
Obama is such a grandstanding jerk. He will likely tire of all this and go on his $4 million vacation so we don’t have to look at his smrking face until the new year.
Good analysis by the author and several good ideas by the commentators. Problem is, no one on our side is actually doing anything to get out view out in front of the public. I’ve seen on small add from “fixthedebt.org” over the past week. MSM is totally in the tank for 0 on this so….
BUT; BUT; BUT; Mr. President; You said you would be more flexible after you were re-elected, and Debbie BLABBERMOUTH Schultz said she nor the Democrats would try to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class.
Where’s your integrity?
Yes; It IS a real word in the English language. I wouldn’t try to fool YOU.
integrity |inˈtegritē|
noun
1. the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness : e.g.: he is known to be a man of integrity.
“Of course, the press is already blaming the GOP for being obstructionists — just as Obama knew they would. Ergo, Obama is sitting pretty while Republicans are scrambling to come up with some kind of a counteroffer. With time running out, the prospect of a significant breakthrough fades considerably.
Something that Santa had planned all along.”
Santa has it easy I guess; a high school kid could do what he’s doing. We’ve already spent over 1 billion dollars just keeping Obama in food and vacation time – Saudi kings are getting jealous right about now! Heh!
Do you really think all those millionaire Democrats are going to want to go over the fiscal cliff? the tax the rich meme is going to work because they are already hiding assets. this is kinda like an ugly divorce, who is gonna come out sitting pretty, bet you it’s gonna be the ones with lawyers. the champions of the middle class neglected to tell them they are the sacrificial lambs. the fiscal cliff is coming, the rich whatever party they belong to are safe and the middle class as always will bear the brunt of the governments largess. to the poor i say this tighten your belt until it hits the spine. remember I’m from the government and I’m here to help….bwwwwaaaaaahahahahah
THE WORKING CLASS AND THE GOVERNMENT CLASS. Forget all the talk about whether we will or won’t go over the fiscal cliff. We ourselves are the fiscal cliff and have been for some time now. The real fiscal cliff is not the point at which we run out of money, ourcredit rating sinks lower than Enron and everyone is fighting over jars of cat … READ MORE: http://bwcentral.org/2012/11/the-working-class-and-the-government-class/