Staggering Failure

It would have been so easy to let the Bush tax cuts on upper income earners expire, extend the tax cuts, on middle and lower income earners, and then BOOM Obama Tax Cut. Everybody goes home and talks about how awesome they are.

Just last week, this New York Times/CBS poll indicated that 53% of Americans favored ending the tax cuts on earners over $250,000 while 78% percent wanted the cuts extended for middle income earners. Seriously, what a fantastic opportunity for the Democrats to score a major slam dunk right before the midterms. And yet, somehow, this group just never could reach the rim.

Key legislators were mum, and aides pessimistic, that the House will do what Speaker Pelosi wants to do: force a vote on tax legislation that will put Republicans on the record backing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. And with House Democratic leaders still insisting that they will follow the Senate's lead, it seems more and more likely that they too will drop the tax cut issue for now.

The poll also said that 54% of Americans say it's time for a third major party to challenge both Dems and Republicans. Can that really be much of a surprise to anyone at this point?