From Denny: Obama hitchhiking off President Bill Clinton's popularity to pull his fanny out of the fire on this disliked Bush Tax Cuts extension. The White House and a recent poll tried to claim that 70 percent of Americans approved of the tax cuts plan when just last week they disapproved by 70 percent. When you read the poll you find that Independents are two-thirds former Republicans and two-thirds of them wanted the plan along with an overwhelming majority of Republicans. Democrats were against the plan by 54 percent. What broke down inside the polls is that Republicans and Independents don't give a rat's butt about the unemployed and did not want unemployment benefits extensions. What they wanted were tax cuts extensions for the rich. Democrats wanted the opposite - in favor of unemployment benefits vs. against the tax cuts for the rich:
