I know i sound like a Republican on this issue, but TPM gets this backwards ("CBO: Expiring Bush Tax Cuts For Wealthy Are Least Economically Harmful").

From their post:

CBO doesn't examine the top bracket Bush tax cuts directly. But it does look at two competing scenarios: One where all of the expiring tax cuts except for the payroll tax cut are extended; another where all of the expiring tax cuts except for the payroll tax cut and the Bush tax cuts for top earners are extended.

The former, CBO says, would increase employment by 1.8 million full time equivalent employees in 2013 relative to allowing everything to lapse. The latter would increase employment by 1.6 million. The difference, 200,000 full time equivalent jobs, is attributable to the expiration of the top bracket Bush tax cuts alone.

I'm all for bringing tax rates back to what they were in the Clinton era (hell, i prefer the Eisenhower era), but not while we're in a depression. That said, the automatic expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the automatic spending cuts built into the debt ceiling agreement are all the leverage Obama has since the Republicans still control the house, so in my fantasy world he credibly bluffs everyone into thinking he'll let these things happen and then reluctantly agrees to $1 trillion in new stimulus money in return for extending the cuts for 2 more years. Then when the stimulus money runs out and unemplyoment is under 5% and everybody loves the Democrats so much that they win back the House in 2014, we can start worrying about deficit reduction (OK, i bet i don't sound like a Republican anymore).