President Obama to Extend Bush Tax Cuts for Wealthy?

The White House signaled Wednesday that President Barack Obama is ready to cut a deal on the Bush-era tax cuts - accepting a temporary extension of the cuts for the wealthiest Americans to win renewal of tax breaks for middle-class taxpayers.

Such a deal would run counter to one of Obama's longest-standing and most often-repeated promises from the 2008 campaign - that he would end the tax cuts for wealthier individuals.

But Obama's top political adviser, David Axelrod, said Wednesday that the White House has to deal with "the world of what it takes to get this done" - a signal to Democrats that they don't have the votes to kill the high-end tax cuts in the face of a new Republican House majority and resistance from Democratic moderates in the Senate.

"We have to deal with the world as we find it," Axelrod told the Huffington Post.

Axelrod's remarks confirmed what many on the Hill had long suspected, that lingering concerns over the weak economy and the political aftershocks of last week's election would compel the president to accept a temporary extension of the high-end tax cuts.

In an e-mail to POLITICO, Axelrod said: "There is not one bit of news here. I didn't go beyond what we said before."

A White House spokeswoman also didn't attempt to walk back the comments Thursday morning, arguing that Axelrod was echoing what the president already stated in his weekly address Saturday.

"The president has been clear that extending tax cuts for middle-class families is his top priority, and he is open to compromise to get that done," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in an e-mail. "He has also expressed concern about the cost of making the highest income tax cuts permanent and is looking forward to discussing this and other issues with bipartisan congressional leaders next week."

But the move is already being interpreted by the progressive base as a cave-in. They see little reason to cede ground to Republicans because polls show voters don't favor renewing tax cuts for the wealthy. They say they want Obama to hold firm to his longtime campaign pledge to let those high-end tax breaks expire.

"Obama caving on the high income tax-cut issue guarantees that he will attract an intra-party opponent from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party," Boston University law professor Cornelius Hurley wrote on POLITICO's Arena. "The White House misreads the mood of the country. Tea partiers do not reflect that mood. Independents and Democrats disenchanted with Obama's lack of conviction do."

Source: Politico

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