Cornyn: Obama caved on taxes thanks to GOP midterm gains

The GOP's Senate campaign chief John Cornyn (Texas) said in a fundraising e-mail Tuesday that President Obama's decision to compromise with Republicans on tax cuts was a direct result of GOP Senate gains in November's midterm elections. 

"President Obama's decision yesterday to join with Republicans in opposing the largest tax increase in American history was made not because he had a sudden change in political or economic philosophy," Cornyn wrote in an e-mail that will go out to supporters of the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Tuesday afternoon. 

Cornyn thanks donors and makes the pitch for 2012 cash with the party well within reach of the Senate majority in 2012. 

The Republican said now that Senate Democrats no longer have as many votes to help push their legislative agenda through the Senate, the election results have forced compromise.      

"With a much slimmer Senate Democrat majority, Republicans now have a very important seat at the negotiating table, and because of the pressure you brought to bear on many Democrats, there is growing bipartisan opposition to raising taxes, particularly in this time of economic recovery," wrote Cornyn. 

The deal would temporarily extend the Bush-era tax cuts across the board along with extending unemployment benefits for another 13 months. 

Cornyn said Democrats "are in disarray," pointing to party infighting over Obama's decision to compromise and said the committee has already turned to 2012 when 23 Democratic Senate seats are up. 

Many on the left are in revolt over the president's compromise, with liberals already warning the decision could cripple the president's reelection bid.

A number of House and Senate Democrats have also slammed the decision. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who's likely to be a top Republican target in 2012, said he's "very unhappy" with the deal and called it "bad economic policy."