For a while now I’ve been convinced that Republicans dislike Obama for at least two reasons: the first is because many of them are racist assholes. The second, and I believe more salient, reason is simply because Mr. Obama is a far better Republican president than any of their hopefuls would be. Consider the following:
- Obama did not close Guantanamo, though he may have wanted to at first.
- Obama has been fairly friendly to resource development interests: Chopping down trees? Check. Drilling for oil? Check. Water resource development? Check.
- Obama killed Osama. Personally? I wouldn’t rule it out.
- Obama works harder (and is exponentially more intelligent) than any Republican.
And now, best of all, Obama is offering to lower the corporate tax rate. Yes, you heard that correctly, although I don’t know why you’d be surprised; did you skip the bulleted talking points?
The administration plan to revamp a corporate code that is widely derided as inefficient and anticompetitive has been in the works at Treasury for two years, and is a priority of Mr. Geithner. Yet he has been preoccupied with crisis management, and is unlikely to see the project through since he plans to leave office after this year.
The proposed overhaul “will help level the playing field for businesses and allow the government to collect needed revenue while promoting economic growth,” Mr. Geithner told a Congressional committee last week, without details.
Naturally, since it’s Obama, there’s going to be trouble with congressional morons–sorry, Republicans–over the rate. They’ll likely seek a 25% rate, and they’ll definitely want the loopholes and subsidies to stay in place. Because that’s how American corporations pay next to nothing in income tax, despite bitching about how high our tax rates are.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with revamping the tax code to make it equitable and competitive. But since “equitable” and “competitive” are not synonymous with “fattening a rich asshole’s bank account,” it’s not likely that we’ll ever see anything of the sort.
I want to be less disappointed in Obama than I am. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I want to blame it on foot-dragging Republicans. I want to keep the faith, but it gets harder. Keep helping me.
I’m with you on that; Obama got elected on a lot of stirring rhetoric, and it seemed as though progressives had their own version of George W. Bush–a guy who simply didn’t give a shit what half of America thought about policy. Sadly, he proved to be extremely pragmatic, with none of the political gunslinging that his supporters had hoped for. But as lackluster as his presidency has been, I cannot imagine how hopelessly screwed we’d be with Santorum or Gingrich. And because of my eternal pessimism, I’m saving up for a shack somewhere in the wilds of Siberia just in case the electorate proves as gullible as I fear they are.
Honestly, I am not just sucking up, but I am honored that you consider my comments to be worthy of thoughtful re-comment.
No problem! I’m glad you liked the work enough to comment; moreover, it’s nice to have a commenter who clearly read the post, and then made a thoughtful response! I was starting to think that only the pornbots were interested in my political commentary. Although some of them are surprisingly astute.