... I don't actually think the administration has been as wishy-washy as people think, because the main evidence for their wishy-washiness is this Huffington Post story, which has a remarkably over-the-top headline with no clear evidence to support it. There are some quotes from White House adviser David Axelrod that support the administration's position, followed by paraphrases and suggestions that the position has changed. Considering the steady denial from the White House, including the president today, I'd be curious to see the full transcript of Sam Stein and Howard Fineman's interview with Axelrod.
It is clear, though, that after the disastrous failure to address this issue before the election, the White House will need to do some fighting if it cares about winning on the issue. I already hear moderate Democratic senators like Kent Conrad and Max Baucus bandying around the idea of temporarily extending the Bush administration's tax policy in exchange for an intraparty agreement to do proper tax reform during the intervening period, perhaps along the lines suggested by the working papers from the deficit commission. This would be monumentally silly, since once Republicans win the temporary extension, they'll have no incentive to do broader reform. The GOP will have the policy they want and can look forward to fighting the Democrats about extending it again during the 2012 elections.
It would be much smarter to force a vote on the White House's compromise position (extending the middle-income tax cuts and letting tax cuts for the wealthy expire), or extend the cuts temporarily in exchange for some actual and immediate legislative payout, or let all the cuts expire, lowering the deficit and giving everyone an incentive to actually do comprehensive tax reform.
-- Tim Fernholz
