Obama Reminds Conservatives: Your Tax Cuts Lost

Something tells me President Barack Obama has had it [1] with the free ride that fact-challenged conservative obstructionists have been getting lately. [2]

In remarks earlier today [1], the President reminded the conservative minority that the the election was a public rejection of more reckless Bush-style tax cuts, and a mandate for active government to get our economy on track (emphasis added):

A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe and guarantee a longer recession, a less robust recovery, and a more uncertain future. Millions more jobs will be lost. More businesses will be shuttered. More dreams will be deferred.

That's why I feel such a sense of urgency about the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that is before Congress today. With it, we can save or create more than three million jobs, doing things that will strengthen our country for generations to come. It is not merely a prescription for short-term spending – it's a strategy for long-term economic growth in areas like renewable energy, health care, and education.

Now, in the past few days I've heard criticisms of this plan that echo the very same failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis – the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can ignore fundamental challenges like energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.

I reject that theory, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. So I urge members of Congress to act without delay. No plan is perfect, and we should work to make it stronger. But let's not make the perfect the enemy of the essential. Let's show people all over our country who are looking for leadership in this difficult time that we are equal to the task.

The conservative minority seems to have spooked some in the Senate [3], to the point where they feel compelled to nitpick over items amounting to less than one percent of the package, and agitate for arbitrary cuts [4] that will make it harder for our government to blunt the impact of recession and invest in future recovery.

Now the Senate is more forcefully hearing from Obama. But they need to hear more forcefully from us.

Conservatives have been beating us in calls to Congress by 100 to 1. [5] That cannot stand if we are to bring about change.

Call the Senate at 1-866-544-7573 [6], tell your Senators to pass big and bold economic recovery legislation immediately and resist attempts to weaken the bill [6] with more corporate tax breaks and cuts in public investment.

It's one thing for the President to claim a mandate. It's another for the people to show the mandate. Call Congress now. [6]