Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY, 9. distrikt) på NBCs Meet the Press (12. desember 2010)
President Obamas mye omtalte skattekutt-kompromiss har satt sinnene i kok blant mange på venstresiden. Den uavhengige Senator Bernie Sanders (som ligger enda lenger til venstre) demonstrerte på fredag hvor dypt motstanden mot skattekutt for de rikeste stikker ved en filibuster-aktig tale på åtte og en halv time.
På en pressekonferanse tirsdag i forrige uke kritiserte Obama motstanderne i sitt eget parti med å si at argumentasjonen er som en reprise av debatten rundt ”the public option” fra helsereformdebatten. Obama kom som kjent fram til at denne idéen måtte kuttes for at reformen skulle kunne realiseres.
På Meet the Press i går (søndag) sendte New Yorks borgermester Michael Bloomberg (uavhengig) følgende beskjed til venstresidens motstanderne av skattekutt-kompromisset:
«Suck it up. You got to take the longer view here.»
Representant Anthony Weiner (D-NY, 9. distrikt) var også gjest på Meet the Press, og uttalelsene hans belyser avstanden mellom Obama og mange i hans eget parti.
Weiner sa først dette:
I’m not a member of the tail-between-my-legs wing of the Democratic Party. I believe we still fight for the things we care about.
Deretter dette:
The president has to understand that critique that he gets from his base and his supporters who want him to succeed is fundamentally different from the one they get from Mitch McConnell. We’re trying to help him be successful, and I kind of agree with him, this is like the public option. If he would have fought harder for that, we would have had it. You know, I think that the president needs to understand that there’s an enormous number of us who are just waiting to be called to kind of really have this competition of ideas. We really need to have this contest. And, you know, look, he made a deal. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a great one. We, in Congress, now have it. We’re trying to improve upon it. But we’re on his team. That’s the fundamental difference he needs to understand. When he calls us sanctimonious and says this is like past debates, the only reason that it’s like past debates is we still want him to be the president that we elected. And we’re going to help him do that. And if he digs in and he fights for these values, he’s going to find the American people support it, and we, his supporters, are really going to rally to his side.
Den grunnleggende forskjellen mellom Obama og de som tenker som Weiner er forståelsen av demokratenes handlingsrom. Obama føler dette er den eneste løsningen, mens Weiner mener han kastet kortene for tidlig, og at ting kunne vært annerledes dersom han hadde kjempet hardere.
