Let's Not Do This
Charles Krauthammer
has a recommendation:
What should Republicans do? Stop giving stuff away. If Obama remains
intransigent, let him be the one to take us over the cliff. And then let
the new House, which is sworn in weeks before the president, immediately introduce and pass a full across-the-board restoration of the George W. Bush tax cuts.
Focusing on the tax cuts lets the Democrats off the hook on the spending front. Let the Bush tax cuts expire; it's a face-saving way to allow a tax increase without technically raising them ourselves. The people will see the tax increase, and we can claim that we met Obama partway. Then we can focus the public's attention on the need for spending cuts.
Plus, I think longer-term we've got to stop being a buffer between the rich and tax increases. The plain fact is that we are not gaining enough of the wealthy votes. The states with the highest median incomes, in order: Maryland, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, New Jersey, Hawaii, Colorado, Minnesota and Alaska. Only the last-named voted for Romney; Obama got a clean sweep of the top nine states in median household incomes.
Why does this happen? Well, partially because the rich don't tend to vote their pocketbook, because they don't have to. They can rely on the GOP to protect them from the consequences of their vote, which they base on their socially liberal inclinations.
