House Democrats Find their Spines!!

Wow!  Maybe a future of being outnumbered has caused House Democrats to finally rediscover their party affiliation!  This is hot off the CNN Political Ticker.

Defying President Obama, House Democrats voted Thursday not to bring up the tax package that he negotiated with Republicans in its current form.

“This message today is very simple: That in the form that it was negotiated, it is not acceptable to the House Democratic caucus. It’s as simple as that,” said Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen.

“We will continue to try and work with the White House and our Republican colleagues to try and make sure we do something right for the economy and right for jobs, and a balanced package as we go forward,” he said.

The vote comes a day after Vice President Biden made clear to House Democrats behind closed doors that the deal would unravel if any changes were made.

“Wow did the [White House] mishandle this,” a senior House Democratic Source told CNN. “Breathtaking. Members have major substantive concerns and they should have gently guided people to the finish line.”

Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon said: “They said take it or leave it. We left it.”

I guess last minute visits by VPOTUS and last minute guilt trips by POTUS just didn’t work.

President Obama warned his fellow Democrats on Wednesday that they risk plunging the country into a double-dip recession if they reject his tax-cut deal with Republicans.

It also appears that the Dream Act will die in the Senate.  This is from NPR.

A measure that would have given grown children of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship stalled and likely died Thursday in the Senate, after Majority Leader Harry Reid was unable to persuade enough Republicans to give the measure the 60 votes it needed to avoid a GOP filibuster.

The DREAM Act, which passed the House Wednesday by a 216-198 vote, would create the citizenship path through college or military service. Reid, a Nevada Democrat who won a tough re-election in November, promised his constituents that he’d bring the measure to the Senate floor.

Reid’s request that the Senate table the motion passed 59-40. Given the lack of Republican support and the dwindling number of days left in Congress’s lame duck session, the chances that the act will be re-considered are slim.

This is all happening at a time when a Bloomberg poll shows that more than have of Americans say they are worse off than they were two years ago.  Count me in that number.

More than 50 percent of Americans say they are worse off now than they were two years ago when President Barack Obama took office, and two-thirds believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, a Bloomberg National Poll shows.

The survey, conducted Dec. 4-7, finds that 51 percent of respondents think their situation has deteriorated, compared with 35 percent who say they’re doing better. The balance isn’t sure. Americans have grown more downbeat about the country’s future in just the last couple of months, the poll shows. The pessimism cuts across political parties and age groups, and is common to both sexes.

The negative sentiment may cast a pall over the holiday shopping season, according to the poll. A plurality of those surveyed — 46 percent — expects to spend less this year than last; only 12 percent anticipate spending more. Holiday sales rose by just under a half percent last year after falling by almost 4 percent in 2008.

Hopefully, we’re at some kind of tipping point.  You certainly can see the tide turning against POTUS in left blogosphere and even in the media.

Dear Answerperson: My boyfriend is a liberal Democrat and ever since the president announced his tax deal with the Republicans, he has been impossible to live with. First he burned his “Audacity of Hope” sweater. Then he began messing up the cat’s litter box, claiming he needed to draw “lines in the sand.” Now he wants to call off our wedding because he says that when you put your trust in people, they break your heart.

Stay tuned.  Things are getting interesting.