Obama Defends Tax Deal, Hints Toward Future

Amid some harsh criticism from both sides of the aisle, President Barack Obama told reporters today at a news conference that he believed his decision to make a tax-cut deal with Republican leadership was right and was in the best interest of the American people.

“This isn’t an abstract debate,” Obama said. “This is real money, for real people; it will make a real difference in the lives of the folks who sent us here.”

Obama sympathized with Democrats who have recently criticized him as “caving” in to Republicans by agreeing to the extension of tax cuts for the wealthy, but he reaffirmed that prolonged debate would not have benefited taxpayers and criticized his Democratic colleagues for caring more about liberal ideology than seeing results. 

“We’re going to keep on having this battle, but in the meantime, I’m not here to play gems with the American people,” the president said. ” A long political fight that carried over into next year might have been good politics, but it would be a bad deal for the economy and it would be a bad deal for the American people.”

Obama signaled that this negotiation would make room for further debate on the issue during the remaining two years of his presidency saying he “is happy to be tested over the next several months about our ability to negotiate with Republicans.”

Looking forward to the next two years, the president conceded to the notion that during this window he will push for a broader, more comprehensive look at tax reform. Obama said that, when the debate heats up leading in to the 2012 election season, he does not see a future for tax cuts for the wealthy. 

“I don’t see how the Republicans win that argument,” he said. “I don’t know how they’re going to be able to argue that extending permanently these high end tax cuts is going to be good for our economy.”