"What if we go over the cliff and House Republicans continue to hold out against any tax increases on the rich while demanding major cuts in Medicare and Social Security?"
This is why the "negotiations" have to be done completely in public. Obama is morbidly conflict averse and refuses to use his leverage. If he took it to the republicans and explained where the points of contention are, as noted in the quoted speculation, it would be a huge boost to potential Dem candidates for House in 2014.
Obama needs to, for a change, start looking long term. If he hasn't learned that making "grand bargains" with republicans is always a losing proposition by now, then he needs to hand the keys to some adults who are willing to play hardball. Obama has to stop worrying about what the titans of industry will think about his decisions and start worrying about how he can convince borderline republican, gerrymandered districts to flip Dem in 2014 and beyond.
But I'm afraid he's still too self-absorbed in his "bipartisan" obsession to get there. I'd love to be proved wrong, but to expect the President to stop paying ransom to republicans (or worse, to stop agreeing with republicans on irrational beliefs about the economy) at this point would be naive.
We need to put the republicans on the defensive next year. It's the only way to win back the House in 2014.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
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