In a meeting with House Democrats on Thursday, President Obama stressed that his administration would draw a firm line on taxes and revenues both in the deficit- and debt-reduction debates and in the buildup to the 2012 elections.The president can't raise anybody's taxes unless the GOP goes along with it.
According to multiple meeting attendees, the president reiterated on several occasions that a deal to raise the country's debt ceiling would include revenue increases, even as Republican lawmakers insist that such a deal should be restricted to spending cuts and entitlement reforms.
"I've been very clear about revenues as a part of a balanced package, and I will continue to be," said Obama.
Underscoring his commitment, Obama noted taxes would be a defining area of contrast with Republicans on the campaign trail. He insisted that he would not compromise again on his position that the tax rates for the top earners be raised to pre-Bush levels.
"'Whatever we agree on, we are still going to have plenty to argue about in 2012,'" a senior administration official said, paraphrasing the president. "'I've said I'm not going to renew the tax cuts for the top two percent. We might agree on tax reform or simplification, but on the upper-income tax cuts we are just going to have to agree to disagree.'"
And they better not or they can plan to hand the gavel back to Nancy Pelosi.
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Handing the gavel back to Nancy as possible punishment to the GOP might give some a sense of satisfaction, but only for a millisecond. That's the kind of temper tantrum that gave us Obama in the first place.
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