Fear and Bribery

Dear Friends,

In case there was any doubt that President Obama has given up trying to change the way things are done in Washington, he provided us with two more examples today.  First, Larry Summers is using fear to get support for President Obama's cave in to the Republicans.  Reuters reported (here),

"Failure to pass this bill in the next couple weeks would materially increase the risk that the economy would stall out and we would have a double-dip," Summers told reporters at the White House.

I guess President Obama adopted the tactic of fear from the Karl Rove playbook.

Now the Associated Press is reporting that the way has been cleared for the passage of President Obama's extension of the Bush tax cuts.  Here are the first two paragraphs of the report (here).

The White House and key lawmakers cleared the way Thursday night for swift Senate action to avert a Jan. 1 spike in income taxes for nearly all Americans, agreeing to extend breaks for ethanol and other forms of alternative energy as part of the deal.
Tax provisions aimed at increasing production of hybrid automobiles, biodiesel fuel, energy-efficient homes, coal and energy-efficient household appliances would be extended through the end of 2011 under the bill.

Another traditional Washington tactic, when you can't sell the bill on its merits, then bribe Senators and Representatives with more money.  I am not generally opposed to government subsidies for alternative energy, but I am opposed to bribery.  I read a quote in the last couple of days from Senator Franken (D-Minn.) that he was interested to see what happened about ethanol tax credits.  Well now we know.  I certainly hope that President Obama didn't just buy his vote.  I will write him (here) along with Senator Klobuchar (D-Minn.) (here).  They are my Senators.  I would urge you to do the same.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal