Letters to the President: #924 'The Aftermath'
Reporter's Note: A debt deal seems imminent. I’m sure the president is waiting to see the vote, but in the meantime, perhaps he’ll read today’s letter.
Dear Mr. President,
Well, it finally appears that you and the Cap Hill gang are actually, maybe, possibly closing in a deal to avoid bouncing the federal checkbook across the Potomac. Good luck with that. Seems like this debate has been going on forever, doesn’t it? Hang in there. I often find that my biggest projects appear to be finished long before they actually are, and that success depends on enduring the final hours of niggling details. It’s no fun, but it is necessary.
Of course there is an ocean of analysis coming at you right now; “experts” on the left saying that you gave away everything and the kitchen sink, on the right saying you’re still spending the country into oblivion. It’s ugly.
But truth be told, I’m not sure anyone knows how this will play out. At first blush it does appear that your party took a beating. Specifically, the Tea Partiers seem to have held an axe above the bargaining table and everyone…Democratic and Republican seems to have flinched; and that flinching seems to run in the Republicans’ favor.
But that is today.
I’ve watched a lot of apparent losses in DC turn into wins down the line. And I’ve seen some victories wind up as defeats as time draws on. For example, what if six months from now you are telling independent voters (whom, as I always say, you must have for re-election) that it was your willingness to stand up to your own party that made this deal happen?
Maybe it won’t happen that way. Then again, maybe it will.
All I know is that you could cover Pennsylvania Avenue one end to the other with all the wrong predictions of how any given decision was going to make or break any given President. So don’t take too seriously what anyone says at this point. Get past the vote, regroup, and press on.
And call if you get a moment.
Regards,
Tom
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Filed under: Letters to the President • Opinion • President Barack Obama • T1 |
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Why can't the Dems just leave the taxes alone? My family will be forced to reduce our vacation on the French Riviera from 12 weeks to 10 weeks should something horrible like a tax increase occur and that's just for starters. We've ordered a new yacht and will have to sell our old one that we bought new in 2007 if taxes increase. We were planning on keeping both so that we could enjoy the luxury of having one on both the Atlantic and Pacific. Now all of this could be in terrible jeopardy should those worthless Democrats increase our taxes. Tammy Sue, our oldest daughter is going to an Ivy League school next year and was hoping for a Ferrari; now she'll have to settle for a Porche. This is totally unfair to her as our other two children already enrolled in elite universities have their 'dream cars' already. She hasn't stopped crying from the mere thought of such a pending tragedy. It just seems so unfair that Tammy Sue might not be getting hers and having to face her friends behind the wheel of such inferior transportation might be simply unbearable for her fragile constitution. Our family just might not be able to bear such privations. Another bigger disappointment is that if these Democratic tax increases come to fruition, we may have to consider shrinking the size of our 6th lake house by 3000 square feet and settle for a 10,000 square foot lake home compared to the 13,000 square feet home we originally planned . This is an absolute outrage that our children won't each get two bedrooms and and extra bathrooms in our newest home. In all our other homes each of our children have enjoyed the space of at least two bedrooms so their invited friends could have their own room. This is going to be very difficult and even grim news to break to our children who have come to expect only the grandest plans. But the most wrenching dissappointment is that we will only be able to save one hundred million dollars annually as opposed to the one hundred and three million dollars we would have saved had these savage tax increases not so ravaged our delicate lives. But...somehow we must find a way to go on and try to extract some semblance of meaning from a life so cruel and viciously filled with the crushing weight of the mildest tax increases. We ask all of America to "pray for our family' that we will somehow find our way out of this bleakest of storms. Al I. Wantismore