Blackmail Politics

[Time for change]

Blackmail is blackmail, and cutting off unemployment benefits for millions of families is outrageous. For many millions of Americans, unemployment benefits are the only thing standing between their families and hunger, homelessness, insufficient money to make life tolerable, and possibly death.

So it seems to me that rich people threatening to do that to millions of American families unless those same rich people are given millions of dollars in tax breaks is blackmail, pure and simple. It is also cruel beyond a level that should be tolerated of our elected representatives.

I believe that most of those who did this are psychopaths. Psychopaths have no conscience. Once somebody demonstrates a level of cruelty sufficient to classify themselves as a psychopath, it is a pretty good bet that there is no internal limit to their cruelty. The only limit to their cruelty is people who are motivated to stand against them. If the only major opposing political party, including the President of the United States, give in to that kind of blackmail then where can we expect it to end?

Recently President Obama castigated progressive Democrats for refusing to give in to such blackmail:

People will have the satisfaction of having a purist position and no victories for the American people. And we will be able to feel good about ourselves and sanctimonious about how pure our intentions are and how tough we are, and in the meantime, the American people….

On the surface, surely he has a point. Isn’t it be better to avoid the discontinuation of unemployment benefits, even it means submitting to blackmail? But again, where will it ever end?


Obama as President vs. Obama as Presidential candidate

As a presidential candidate in 2008, Obama came out strongly against extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich. An article titled “Barack Obama Will Reverse Bush Tax Cuts Given to the Rich” describes his 2008 position on this issue. In his autobiography, “The Audacity of Hope”, he says:

The Bush tax cuts – people didn't need them, and they weren't even asking for them, and they ought to be relaxed so we can pay for universal health care and other initiatives.… We have to stop pretending that all cuts are equivalent or that all tax increases are the same…. At a time when ordinary families are feeling hit from all sides, the impulse to keep their taxes as low as possible is honorable. What is less honorable is the willingness of the rich to ride this anti-tax sentiment for their own purposes.

But far from reversing the Bush tax cuts, he waited until they were about to expire, and then he castigated Congressional Democrats for not submitting to Republican blackmail to hold extension of unemployment benefits to the unemployed hostage to tax cuts for the rich.

As usual when going against the wishes and interests of progressives, he couched his language in misleading terms. The first major clue to his plans to give in to Republican blackmail on this issue was when he clarified at the G20 Conference in Seoul his plans for dealing with it. At this conference Obama said, “I continue to believe that extending permanently the upper-income tax cuts would be a mistake and that we can't afford it". The use of the word “permanently” was intended to give him just enough wiggle room to agree to so-called temporary tax cuts. But what exactly does “temporary” mean in this context? These tax cuts have already been operating for close to close to 10 years, contributing to an ever-expanding income gap between the wealthy and ordinary Americans, which is tearing our country apart. Now he proposes to extend them until close to the end of his first term. Surely he must know that the Republican Party and the masters they serve will never agree to discontinue them. And what meaning did his pledge to reverse them have if he allows them to be continued to the end of his first term? When exactly does he intend to reverse them? When he finally decides that he won’t allow himself to be blackmailed by Republican threats to make life miserable for ordinary Americans? When he’s out of office?


Why can the Republican Party get away with outright blackmail against the American people?

There are two related answers to why the Republican Party can get away with such outright blackmail. One is that the leader of the Democratic Party lets them. Any time they make a threat he “compromises” with them. But the deeper question is why does he do this? There are generally two potential answers to this. One is that he favors their agenda. As a Democratic President he can’t admit to that, so he pretends to oppose them, but then he always ends up giving them what they want without a fight, in the interest of “bipartisanship”.

Or alternatively, he doesn’t want to give in to their blackmail, but he is afraid of the consequences if he doesn’t. The most obvious consequence would go well beyond the refusal of corporate interests to fund the political candidacies of not only President Obama, but any Democrats who don’t accede to their demands. Worse than that, the corporate-owned media would be relentless in its criticisms of any Democrat – especially the President of the United States – who refused to support such an important agenda item as reducing their taxes. It’s that simple. They drew us into war in Iraq. They’ve created great doubt in the public mind on the validity of the claims of climate scientists that climate change portends a looming catastrophe for humanity. And now they try to make us believe that there are legitimate reasons other than pure greed to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.


But what if…?

But what if the Democratic Party including the President stood up to them? What if the Democratic Party including the President told them that they would not submit to more blackmail? And what if they held to that promise? What if they took their case – our case – directly to the American people, as so many other U.S. Presidents have done with issues that they really believed in? What if the President of the United States, with the full support of the Democratic Party, repeatedly emphasized to the American people the evils of ripping away support for families that are fighting for survival? What if they repeatedly called Republican blackmail what it is?

If the Democratic Party stood up for us, how far could the corporate-owned media go towards spinning situations like this into something that they’re not without losing a great amount of credibility with the American people? How far could they go towards pretending that blackmail is not blackmail without surrendering their credibility?

What if Democrats repeatedly forced Republicans to explain why they continue to deny unemployment benefits to those Americans who are in dire need of them? How long could the corporate media continue to pretend that there is anything behind such behavior other than pure greed? What if most of our elected Democratic leaders stood up for the American people like Bernie Sanders has?

We’ll find out if and when the Democratic Party including our President care enough about the people they were elected to serve to stand up and fight for them.

[Ozymanithrax]

1. The Republicans don't care what the American people think...

They have the power and will use this.

Republicans know they have a solid 33% of the population that will vote for Republicans even if every elected Republican representative shit on their front lawn and their sold their daughters into sexual slavery.

They just have to get out a larger percentage of that 33% voting block, while picking up independents who do not pay attention to politics and haven't a freaking clue about what is going on.

Also, President Obama believes in his proposal, believes in what he is doing. He is not going to crap on his own beliefs to try and sway the public to bitch at Republicans who do give a fuck what the public thinks.

[Catherina]

2. Excellent post. Rec'd. n/t

[bluerum]

3. Great post . Completely agree with the sentiment.

I do think the presidents motivations are quite complex. The republicans, the next election cycle, extending unemployment benefits, preserving middle class tax cuts, the general health of the economy and on and on.

But I cannot understand how he can unilaterally make a backroom deal With the opposition party and expect his own party to blindly go along. I do feel he is obfuscating.

[Faryn Balyncd]

4. Important, thoughtful discussion. Thanks.

:kick:

[Agony]

5. TFC, Thank you so much for taking the time to post your thoughts here.

when I read it enough times that it sticks, then my co-workers have to hear it! too bad for them eh?

Cheers!
Agony

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Regardless of Obama's wishes and intentions,

we have clear evidence that the system is thoroughly corrupted.

It doesn't really matter whether Obama is going along because he wants to, or because he doesn't want to have himself and perhaps his entire party de-funded for noncompliance with the corporate agenda.

If he is a corporatist at heart, then he was selected and permitted to win by the Invisible Masters, perhaps to preserve the illusion of a two-party system, perhaps because only a Democrat could get away with enacting a Republican health insurance plan (let us not forget where the major points of that plan came from) or planting the poison pill of the "payroll holiday" into the Social Security system.

Or perhaps they did threaten him with de-funding (or maybe even much worse). It doesn't matter which it was. They got their way, and will continue to do so as long as the current system remains in place.

Incidentally, I favor the first theory, and cite the people Obama chose: Rahm, Bernanke, Sommers, McChrystal, etc., as well as his appointments to the Catfood Commission, as evidence of where his intentions lay from the beginning of his Presidency.

You speak of psychopaths, and that resonates clearly with me. The system favors psychopathy; in fact the underlying principles espoused by Friedman and the Chicago School, are essentially psychopathic. I have often argued that the fundamental values of any private corporation are likewise essentially psychopathic. In both instances, psychopathy is elevated to the status of a virtue.

So Obama is really a symptom of a degenerate system in which the basest of motives have replaced humane values.

[zeemike]

15. I agree with the part about the system favoring sociopaths.

And those principles are fought in every business school in America...that the bottom line is the important thing...the end justifies the means.
Ayn Rand created a religion based on selfishness as a virtue and that is a magnet for the sociopaths.

[Time for change]

17. I pretty much agree with all that

I would add that I think there is a thin and blurry line between the different theories. After all, what is a corporatist. At the most basic level it is a politician who serves primarily corporate interests rather than the people s/he is elected to serve.

But why? I don't believe that it is because the politician really believes in corporatist philosophy (except to the degree that the politician is in denial). Rather I believe it is generally because the politician feels that following the corporate line will provide a better chance for his electoral and financial success. Such a person may rationalize that corporate philosophy is morally valid, or may rationalize that deep down he does a better job for his constituents than most other politicians, so that following the corporate line is justified because it serves to keep a better man in office.

[laughingliberal]

25. +1000 nt

[felix_numinous]

7. I've often wondered

how exactly the RW/MIC intimidates or coerces our representatives into towing their line. How is this done, exactly? They are definitely coerced into demolishing all the social programs, going along with all their wars, funneling trillions into secret programs and enabling propaganda to substitute for real communication. Even if they once had principles, something happens to them after they enter the beltway. I have often wondered what methods of intimidation--and blackmail--are used. We certainly know what happened to Wellstone, JFK and others who have crossed these people.

What is truly disturbing is how no one is even attempting to cover up the lies and corruption anymore, or even pretending to have any empathy. We are called whiners, our hard earned benefits called entitlements, and promises made to us in plain English forgotten, as if respecting us is now unnecessary. To lose respect is to lose trust, and without this we are truly divided from our government. They may as well be on another planet.

What would happen if an anonymous writer leaked all the information about how people inside the beltway were all threatened or payed off to do as they are told? What would happen to the power structure if honest people from inside began to resist the empire? I guess I want to believe they are threatened into not caring for American citizens, I do not want to believe the majority of representatives are sociopathic.

Isn't that the problem we face as a nation--we are being lied to and are in a state of paralysis. How do we deal with a sociopathic system?

[Time for change]

22. I think Jackpine Radical provides the explanation why so many of our elected representatives

are sociopathic:

We live under a corrupt system. More specifically, we live under a system where money can legally be used to bribe our representatives, as long as the deal isn't made explicitly in writing. It is corrupt to the core. In such a system, being corrupt provides a great advantage. This is particularly true of the Republican Party, which is why almost all high level Republicans are sociopathic. Lincoln Chafee was drummed out because he didn't fit the mold. But the system is corrupt to the core, which helps to explain why they are now in the process of taking over the Democratic Party as well. Money was used to get rid of Cynthia McKinney, Grayson, and Feingold, and you can bet that anyone who gets out of line will be targeted as they all were.

This will change only when the American people wake up to what's going on and demand something better.

[howmad1]

30. It will be a cold day in hell.........

.....when the American people wake up to what's going on and demand something better. They had every opportunity during this last election and look what happened. Ignorance should be painful and then the American sheeple will wake up. Not until then.

[nckjm]

41. Question about who "they" are....

"But the system is corrupt to the core, which helps to explain why they are now in the process of taking over the Democratic Party as well."

I'm curious who the "they" is in the above sentence. Do you see this as someone/a cartel of some kind/some organization larger than the Republican party? Is it the think tanks of the Republican party....I would be very interested in your thoughts on this. Anyone's thoughts on this.

Thanks,
K.

[madfloridian]

8. I also remember Obama agreed to cut food stamps to keep teacher jobs..

and there was another time he cut them...something about school lunches.

I remember that also.

Recommended.

Priorities are way way out of order.

[bobbolink]

34. Do you have sources for that? I'd like to document what is obvious.

Thanks.

[tpsbmam]

40. God forbid they slash something we really don't need.....like military expenses. Here's an article:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20013164-503544.html

Food Stamps Slashed to Pay for Teacher Jobs Bill

Democrats are poised to pass a bill today that will provide $26 billion in additional funding to help states cover Medicaid expenses and teacher salaries. To pay for the bill, however, they are accelerating the scale-back of food stamp payments -- at a time when a record number of Americans are relying on food stamps.

In an unusual move, the House of Representatives interrupted its August recess this week to return to Washington to pass this aid bill. The legislation, which passed in the Senate last week, extends programs enacted in the stimulus package, with $16 billion for state health care programs and $10 billion to help school boards avoid teacher layoffs.

(more at link)

Great, huh? Great they want to better fund Medicaid & teachers' salaries....and the only way they could it was to slash food stamp funds? What a stinking pile of shit!

[bobbolink]

42. Thank you so much! I got bashed here for saying that Food Stamps had been cut under Obama.

"Great, huh?"

Especially considering that for every Federal dollar spent on Food stamps, $1.74 goes back to the local economy! Yeah, it's 3 Dimensional Chess, alright. :puke: Wrong on EVERY level.

Thanks... I really needed this, and appreciate you posting it.

If you find more like it, I will be grateful! :yourock:

[tpsbmam]

44. I think this was even worse than just Obama.....

This REALLY pissed me off:

Democrats convinced two Republicans in the Senate to support the measure in part by ensuring it would not add to the deficit. That was in part accomplished by cutting food stamp payments beginning in 2014 by $12 billion. The cut would bring funding for the food stamp program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, back to pre-stimulus levels ahead of schedule.

No surprise to you, I know!

Yeah, there were some "progressive" moans about it...Rosa DeLauro said it was like a Sophie's choice decision (unfortunate analogy IMO) and she and others vowed to bring food stamp funding back up.....we know how THAT will go.

[bobbolink]

47. Of course it's worse than "just" Obama! CCritters, but mostly what angers me is grassroots

"progressives", like right here on DU.

When everyone here could blame the "republicons", they were happy as clams to talk about cutbacks like this. "Oh, those evil pigs!"

But they never DID anything... it was all grandstanding. So many things so much more important.

Now that the Dems are at the helm, it is all kept hush-hush, and the suffering is ignored.

Yes, I am getting confrontational about it. This is a damned CRIME, and I am sick of the damned excuses, and the sweeping it all under the rug.

Sapphire Blue used to periodicalll post "The Perils of Indifference", which states that the opposite of love isn't hate... the opposite of love is indifference, and that is exactly where "progressives" are, and that includes DU.

Maybe it is time to repost that. Not that anyone would read it or take it to heart if they did.

Yes, it is DESPAIR time. And don't tell me not to DESPAIR... it is impossible not to, when confronted with constant indifference to suffering and death.

[bobbolink]

48. "accelerating the scale-back of food stamp payments"

This relates to the part you say "really pissed" you off: It is "accelerating" what is already happening. I know food stamps have already been reduced, sometimes by HUGE amounts.

Can you find anything on that?

There are die-hard cheerleaders here who INSIST that food stamps have been increased!

I really do appreciate your help on this! :yourock:

[DirkGently]

9. Good question. -- "What if ...?"

[puebloknot]

10. K&R Spot on, as always! nt

[myrna minx]

11. K&R n.t

[Raksha]

12. K&R

[slipslidingaway]

13. knr ...

"...What if they took their case – our case – directly to the American people, as so many other U.S. Presidents have done with issues that they really believed in?"

[Overseas]

14. Yes indeed! Blackmail Politics in favor of Supply-Side Economics -- a.k.a. Cash for Hoarders!

Time to admit that Dribble Down / Cash for Hoarders has utterly failed.

I thought that's what it meant that we'd be getting a pragmatic President! "Finally! Great!" I thought, "We'll finally, after the Bush Crash, be ready to acknowledge the utter failure of Supply-Side Economics!"

But those bewildering compromises ensued. My President and Democratic legislators were compromising with the team that crashed the economy! Over and over again.

I was home in between temp jobs yesterday, so I got to watch Senator Sanders show in painful detail that the Supply Side Emperor has no clothes at all.

Instead of simply Decoupling the Bush Tax Cuts for income over 250K from the rest of the package, our President compromised with the economy-crashing GOP before the Democratic team had a full chance to fight that failed dogma. Let the Blue Dogs talk them out of making it a campaign issue.

I was so glad Bernie laid out the case so well. I hope his material is getting lots of views on various clips over the weekend.

And that crazy 2% Social Security payroll tax cut, after we've heard your "Deficit" Commission wants to cut Social Security payments because they're worried about it having too little revenue? How jarring that has been.

And we're supposed to believe that the tax cuts above 250K would be allowed to expire before the next election even though we were too chicken to campaign on that this time?

Painful to witness.

[Time for change]

27. I'd love to see Bernie run in 2012 for president

as an independent candidate. It seems like a long shot. But consider if he's up against Obama and Palin -- perhaps the weakest pair of major party candidates ever to face off in a general presidential election.

[Overseas]

28. Exciting to think about.

Hard to choose a VP.

[zeemike]

16. I favor the alternative reason.

The whole system runs on money and we have plenty of evidence as to who has the money....and should some good guy get in there, they will destroy him if nessesary....but if he just plays along on the important things he will get by, and make a little money for himself and his friends and family....he can even brag about having a liberal voting record...but on the big things he must give in to....that is how it works and I think most of them know that.
The solution is at the local level...for us to win we must take back the party and send reps to DC that cannot be corrupted by the money and privileges that they are given....and that is hard to do.

[Jackpine Radical]

18. And the system can tolerate a few Graysons, Sanderses, Feingolds, Kuciniches

as window dressing as long as they don't get too powerful or problematic. They actually help to maintain the illusion of democracy with their contrarian votes against the war or against window-dressing reform legislation.

[zeemike]

19. they don't care how many votes for or against a bill

Only that the bill goes the way they want...it is much cheaper to buy just a few votes to get something passed that all of the votes.
And as you have said...it is good window dressing.

[hfojvt]

20. I would add a little snippet

for whatever it is worth. During the campaign, candidate Obama was touting the idea that he had 'reached across party lines while in the Illinois State Senate' to provide bi-partisan tax relief for working Americans.

However, when I looked up the facts, it seemed that Illinois state taxes were very regressive.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/43

and yet he was boasting about some tax cut there.

[Time for change]

26. I'm not surprised

A close look at Obama's record reveals a multitude of promises and statements that have turned out to be less than honest.

[JonLP24]

21. K&R

[Jefferson23]

23. Axelrod was on today with CNN's Candy, and when she asked

him about the process that took place he said that we were focused on moving forward not style. He went further to say
there will unlikely be any significant changes in the bill, it will be voted on pretty much as is.

Obama has already employed Clinton to help sanction the deal. Obama also seems more than willing to fight against Dems
than those he claims to oppose. We will not ever know what could have transpired here, as Obama did not fight on any level
of measure.

For me this has been the last excuse he has, and it is truly a desparate one without credibility.

[live love laugh]

24. What if they call it what it is? nt

[Time for change]

38. That would be the equivalent of pointing out that the emperor has no clothes

If done right, and with a little luck, it could lead to an awakening of the American people IMO.

[earth mom]

29. I've long thought the rethugs and dinos are sociopaths/psychopaths.

It's time everyone in this country realizes it.

Maybe then things will change.

[MissDeeds]

31. K&R #100 n/t

[Karmadillo]

32. K&R.

nt

[killbotfactory]

33. Republicans don't give a shit! End of story.

This is a lame duck congress, sinking the tax deal will just put them in a stronger position in a few weeks. The democrats blew it by not taking this up earlier and making this an election issue. That's when Obama could "take it to the American people". In two years this will be old news and grandstanding on the issue will have very little effect, and we will just be forced to come up with a worse compromise.

Republicans and their financial backers are wealthy enough to ride out a recession and a sluggish economy while the gov't does nothing to help. Working people can't. If things get worse by 2012, or stay just as miserable, because we "fought republican blackmail", people will blame Obama and the Democrats, not Republicans, as they did in the last election.

[TheKentuckian]

39. What do we do? We say NO! What do we do? We deny the claim!

[Javaman]

35. I get tired of the comparing of Obama now and Obama then.

they all lie.

We just feel cheated somehow because he was "supposed to be different". LOL

When he stated that he wouldn't sign a Health Care bill with out a public option then went on and signed it anyway, it only confirmed what I suspected.

[Time for change]

36. No, they don't ALL lie

I happen to think that it's a very serious matter when the president of the United States breaks most of his campaign pledges. So it needs to be repeatedly publicly documented until most people get it.

[Javaman]

45. The ones that don't lie get voted out. nt

[Time for change]

37. No, they don't ALL lie

I happen to think that it's a very serious matter when the president of the United States breaks most of his campaign pledges. So it needs to be repeatedly publicly documented until most people get it.

[jorae28]

43. Republican see the cards on the table.

Yes folks...A democracy will eventurally have an even playing field...

But if you just can't stand that idea, and you firmly believe America was meant to be a Republic and not a democracy, you see the tide will eventually destroy your beliefs...but Republicans feel they are SOOO RIGHT...that any method will be used...

Democracy will have Health Care, it will have a living wage, it will have an attitute that all are equal.

It will come, Republicans can't tolerate the idea...they think it is in the best interest of the country to have just one group = them and money...to make sure America stay pure to their standards ...

Money speaks...try to find "Bush Tax cuts", and the first 8 pages in Google shows it is approved by all....Who had the money to push certain sites up front. The people who have do, in order to keep things as they are, pay fees to be first....Net neutrality prevents this.....Republican hate this, but try two search engines and see what comes up pro Republican and neutral...

We have the internet...Yahoo is Republican...Ask.com is not much better. You have to be creative in question asking to bypass what the money wants you to read.

Tax cuts Bush.....seems like a simple request on Google....and you get the lies..

Try "Tax cuts Bush over $250,000" and they can't stop the truth from coming up...over 60% of Americans, in the this weeks polls...say NO...but without the fine points, the Republican ideology pops up first....try it.

Send an email to you Congress...NO on this tax cut for the rich...they will stay in power with every trick in the book until we, the citizens get wise to them and rebell....The republican are desperate to fool you...

[NorthCarolina]

46. Obama and DLC/Blue Dog Dems will never stand up to the GOP because they serve the same masters. nt