Senator Jeff Merkley is shaking his tail feathers at President Obama’s tax deal with the Republicans the same way Oregon’s Democrats in the House raised a collective fist.. Yesterday Merkley came out loud and strong against the plan Obama negotiated with congressional Republicans to extend the Bush era tax cuts to wealthy and lower-income households alike and to extend unemployment benefits to the chronically out of work. All four of Oregon’s House Democrats have come out against the plan, too. Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Springfield Democrat, wrote last week’s House resolution opposing the plan in its current form. Oregon’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Ron Wyden, also spoke at the Leadership Summit and will likely return to Washington, D.C. too late for the vote on the tax compromise. But wait a minute: If you think about it, Obama is adopting a familiar Republican strategy; baiting the trap, luring them in and dropping the gate. The gate comes down and Republicans find themselves trapped by their own sales pitch. This tax cut will go one of two ways: It will produce jobs because Republicans can't afford to tell their people it will create employment if it doesn't. And if it does, Obama gets the credit. If no jobs are forthcoming, Obama can point to the tax breaks and say: Look at this; You give them all this money and what do you get? Nothing. That's going to play straight into Democratic hands during the next election cycle. So either way this could be more than meets most eyes and it might be a ‘Battle of Algiers’ counter-intuitive move that – for once – the Right didn’t see coming. “What looks large form a distance, up close ain’t never that big…” – Bob Dylan
- KBOO