Phil Ochs has been dead for decades, but he has Barack Obama's number

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I’ve grown older and wiser
And that’s why I’m turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

— Phil Ochs, 1966

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Here’s Robert Reich, feigning befuddlement over yet another Barack Obama cave-in:

The Obama administration is proposing to lower corporate taxes from the current 35 percent to 28 percent for most companies and to 25 percent for manufacturers.

The move is supposed to be “revenue neutral” – meaning the Administration is also proposing to close assorted corporate tax loopholes to offset the lost revenues. One such loophole allows corporations to park their earnings overseas where taxes are lower.

Why isn’t the White House just proposing to close the loopholes without reducing overall corporate tax rates? That would generate more tax revenue that could be used for, say, public schools.

It’s not as if corporations are hurting. Quite the contrary. American companies are booking higher profits than ever. They’re sitting on $2 trillion of cash they don’t know what to do with…

The Republican presidential hopefuls are wingnuts, but Obama doesn’t think that gives him enough of an advantage. He thinks he can make everyone love him, the 99 percent and the one percent. He will close loopholes and reduce corporate tax rates.

I wish Reich would drop the rhetorical niceties. Every time Obama panders, backtracks, or makes a major concession to Republicans without even negotiating, Reich says he doesn’t get it. What is there to get? How much longer are Reich and other Democratic commentators — real Democrats — going to pretend to be stunned by this spineless purveyor of false hope and empty promises? Right up till the election, no doubt.