In the above video clip, Senator Harry Reid finally starts saying the things that have been needed to be said since the first days of the Obama administration.

Imagine the position of strength that Obama would have been in today had he been explaining for years why the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy would prevent the economic recovery from being self-sustaining. When his stimulus package kept us from going over the cliff, but then faltered as it ran out, he could have then said, “OK, time to stop fooling around. The Bush tax cuts have to go.”

Obama could have claimed that things worked out just as he predicted rather than now being in a position where the Republicans claim that what he tried is a failure.

Instead, we find ourselves with the Republicans solidly entrenched with the idea that tax increases are unacceptable. It is going to be 100 times harder to root them out of this position than it would have been if they were never allowed to dig in in the first place.

As a candidate Obama was a man of big ideas and foresight. As a President, he has been a man of little ideas and no foresight beyond the next day. What happened?