Depressing news just keeps coming

Man, oh man, I'm so depressed about the news right now, I can barely stand to hear it.

Tax cut deal is just so discouraging, especially preserving the rates for top earners and the estate tax being included (no one was even talking about that - it's just a cherry on top).  I understand Obama making a deal while the opportunity exists, and at the same time, I appreciate the uproar on the left (though I doubt that will have any impact).  All so that we could extend unemployment benefits for 13 months, which I think is necessary, but this package increases the deficit by some gazillion dollars.  It's just crazy on several levels.

To add insult to injury, DADT did not "advance" in the Senate, despite high profile support and the survey report, that shows the vast majority of soldiers don't mind the repeal.  What's it going to take to do the right thing here???

And despite 2 recent high profile mine disasters, Republicans in the House of Representatives just blocked efforts by Democratic leaders to resurrect a major mine safety reform bill before the end of the year.  Again, what's it going to take to protect people in the most basic ways?

Digby is writing about all this stuff, of course, and more, and I love her commentary.  Here's something that stuck in my head:

"Democrats are always in the position of having to choose between some specific thing that will alleviate some suffering (however temporarily) in exchange for some heinous Galtian thievery and they end up taking the short term relief because they believe they have the responsibility to help people in the best way they can. Unfortunately, when dealing with nihilists, you end up creating more and more circumstances where such deals with the devil are necessary."

She notes more than once that this tax package (aka Christmas present for the richest 2%) is a result of Democratic timidity last year:  ". . .  the Democrats and Obama could have extended the middle class tax cuts during the worst of the recession as part of the stimulus back in 2009, which was probably the only time they could have done it with any good chance of passage."

And this, in a piece on the similarities and differences between Clinton and Obama: 

". . . that's why liberals and progressives are so frustrated. It's not just that they object to centrism on an ideological basis, which they do. It's that in this age of GOP political terrorism, centrists are effectively allies of the right wing. They foolishly thought that in a time of major economic crisis, discredited centrist and conservative ideology, a large congressional majority and a Democrat in the White House you might see just a little bit more of a push for real liberal policies."

And this, which totally nails my own perspective on Obama:

"I get the triangulation thing. The whole Village [political commetariat] is now characterizing him as being "the only grown-up" in the room, which I'm sure is exactly what they were going for. And I honestly wouldn't care if he railed at liberals all day long if he had used the power of the presidency and as head of his own party more strategically over the past two years. Huge opportunities were squandered and the advice that he relied on, both on policy and politics, has been inadequate to the task. Now the country is faced with a slavering beast of a right wing which has been revitalized while the rank and file of the Democratic party is confused at best."