People, you are missing the real point here: As bad as this deal is (and it stinks to high heaven), it is more than a bad deal. It is not only a failure in leadership by Obama, but proof that the GOP is taking its marching orders from an historical play book - Mein Kampf.
Now, I know many of you will holler that I am being outrageous (to put it politely), but study your history of the late 1920s and early 1930s in Germany, and how what started as a small right-wing elected minority, backed by bankers and corporations, strangled any legislation that would have helped German citizens to recover from a depression, led to the rise of the Nazi party and their control of the German Parliament. It was through their control that they undermined the leadership of Germany at the time, and forced the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor. Within two years, he had suspended their Constitution and dissolved their Parliament in favor of a supported Nazi regime. This is all verifiable in unedited history books. This is happening here, and the controlled press is aiding and abetting it, just as it did in Germany.
The Nazi party grew in strength by tapping into the anger of the German people over inflation and unemployment. Here it is taxes and unemployment. They attracted the disaffected, and they built a power base built on hatred of what was portrayed as an unfair government and its policies. The GOP, Rove, Norquist, and the Koch Brothers, along with their allies, are doing the exact same thing - angering whole groups of disenfranchised segments (or who perceive themselves as disenfranchised), using the media to control the message of lies and misinformation, and holding our nation hostage in political policy debates to make the government of President Obama and the moderates of both parties ineffective. They are not for creating jobs or fixing our economy, only favoring their financial interests and seeking the aphrodisiac of power. This is history repeating itself, and it is as dangerous now as Nazi Germany was 70 years ago. Only this time we are the ones in danger, not Germans.
This debate was clear evidence of an agenda by a minority of Americans who lust for power and money, and they will make us all hostages to their demands until they have destroyed American ideals. We do not need to pander to the two political parties as they now stand, any more than we have to accept the ideas of the Tea Party ideologues and backers. We have an electoral system, that while often gamed to favor millionaires and billionaires, is still ultimately controlled by the votes of the citizens. Run for political offices in Congress and in state legislatures in 2012 - but run as Independents without party alignments. Offer Americans a choice between what we have now which is not helping them, and their neighbors, friends, families, co-workers, teachers, family farmers,union leaders, accountants, doctors, etc. who run on the idea that by voting for them you are voting American - American jobs, American small businesses, American public education, American safe food production, American Human Rights, American energy independence. Don't run against individuals, run against political ideology and political/religious extremism. Take away the Tea Party's power and undercut the current political structure, return American governance to real Americans who make up the backbone of this nation.