Obama Ready to Cave On Bush Tax Cuts

According to Politico, Nancy Pelosi told Obama House Democrats will not back tax cuts for those earning over $250,000. Obama know Reid backs extending all the Bush tax cuts. Obama told Reid, in front of Pelosi, to work on his own tax cut package. Short answer: Obama caved on high end tax cuts that poll badly with the American people.

Tim Geithner and Lawrence Summers were at the meeting with Obama, Pelosi and Reid. Want to take a wild guess on if they support extending the Bush tax cuts for those making above $250,000?

A CBS News poll found 56 percent support letting the tax cuts for $250,000 and above earners expire. A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll gave respondents four choices. Letting tax cuts for top earners was the most popular choice.

Eliminate all the tax cuts permanently: 10

Eliminate the tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 per year, but keep them for those earning less than that: 39

Keep in place all the tax cuts for everyone for another year to three years: 23

Keep in place the tax cuts for everyone permanently: 23

This maintains my premise that Obama is not a policy wonk. The deficit commission was merely a bad dog and pony show. Obama used the defict commission so he could make claims of being bipartisan and and wanting to reduce the deficit. Obama's deficit commission reads like a horrible policy paper from the Cato Institute. (I should know since I have forced myself to read too many nutty papers.) Obama can't truly be interested in reducing the deficit if he allows the tax cuts for top earners to continue.

Update: Greg Sargent reports that Steny Hoyer backs holding a vote extending tax cuts for the middle class during the lame duck session. Ways and Means Committee chairman David Camp plans to block a middle class-only tax cut vote. It would be political suicide for Republicans to vote for tax cuts for the rich and then say they are doing this to jump start the economy. House Democrats understand this is good politics. Obama either doesn't understand the politics or silently backs tax cuts for top earners.

Update: this chart created by the Washington Post illustrates the stark differences between the Republican and House Democratic tax proposals. The bigger the dot the bigger the tax cut.