People want to reverse the Bush (now Obama) tax cuts because that is where the money is. The tax cuts and the Iraq/Afghan war spending will account for almost half of government debt (not budget deficit) by 2019.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra...bamas-deficits/

Just letting the tax cuts expire would cut the budget deficit by about half.
http://www.economicpolicyresearch.org/de...h-tax-cuts.html

The other political reason that it may be important to let the Bush tax cuts expire is that the Republicans have gotten way too comfortable holding everything hostage to the continuation of those tax cuts. It's extortion politics. Unless the President stops caving, as he did twice prior, the Republicans will continue to say "Nice economy you got here. Now you wouldn't want any accidents to occur would you kid?"

I think fixing the deficit is important but neither side is as concerned about fixing the deficit as they like to pretend. And to be honest there are higher priorities in the short term, like getting unemployment down and income up.

You fix the deficit: Interactive puzzle

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.