TODAY's message to the White House on Bowles/Simpson

I think it's now quite obvious that unless the President is actually a stealth defender of Wall Street privilege, it was a mistake to appoint the Bowles/Simpson commission. Bowles is on the board of Morgan Stanley and is about as fiscally conservative as any Democrat. Why is it that when Republican presidents appoint token Democrats to commissions, they appoint the most Conservative Democrats they can find, but Democratic presidents feel impelled to appoint not only extremely conservative Republicans but conservative Democrats as well? It's just painfully obvious that this commission, and particularly its co-chairs, was stacked and biased from very beginning in favor of plutocratic interests and perspectives.

Anyway, to the point. The recommendations of this commission are a stab in the back of all the principles on which the President ran. They should not even have DISCUSSED social security. Social security is off budget and fiscally sound. It's like noticing your house is on fire and saying, oh, maybe we should fix the windows in the toolshed. It's obvious that these plutocrats on the commission hate social security because it represents a program that doesn't benefit their class... the top 1% or so of wealthy Americans. The very idea that the debt should be reduced on the backs of low-income seniors is out and out offensive and the President must reject this notion completely and vociferously.

Then, there's their tax proposals, which are so utterly regressive and anti-working people that the President just MUST come out right away and say, thank you, but this is a DEAD LETTER and if something resembling it is passed, it will be VETOED.

The President must get the message. People didn't turn away from him because he was too progressive. They turned away from him out of frustration that there was too much dealing in Washington, too much kowtowing to the banks and other wealthy interests, and too little principled commitment to the tenets on which he ran for office. He must reaffirm the commitment to rebuilding America, reforming Wall Street, and PROTECTING working peoples' and seniors' interests (especially social security and medicare). The Tax Cuts for the Very Rich must go, and tax reform must shift more of the burden to the very richest Americans. Other than that, the deficit and debt ARE NOT the priority right now, in the midst of the worst recession since the 30s.

Stop listening to Axelrod, Geithner and Summers. Bring in Stiglitz, Reich, Krugman, and, especially, David Cay Johnston. Then the tax and budget policy will conform to what the president ran on, and, believe me, TAKE A CHANCE ON IT: the people WILL RESPOND positively and the president and our party will win in 2012.

Thank you.