the republicans really blew it. the white house plan to deal with the so-called fiscal cliff makes it clear that he is going to actually advocate for democratic priorities this time. obama is not veering right anymore to reach a bipartisan compromise for the sake of bipartisanship like he tried in 2011. the republicans rejected the presidents' offer back then because they thought his enactment of a republican-flavored deficit reduction package would help the president win re-election. the GOP could have had the bush tax cuts made permanent for rich people, plus draconian cuts to social programs. but they gave it all up on the bet that the collapsed talks would deliver them the presidency.
the talks collapsed and obama never got his bipartisan deficit reduction beard. but he still got reelected. so now he has no incentive to sell out the left to the republicans. and the reality is that--thanks to the terms of the legislation that the republicans themselves wrote--if no deal is reached, the president will get what he wants on upper class tax rates. almost all the high cards are in the president's hand, and the republicans are the ones who put them there.
the talks collapsed and obama never got his bipartisan deficit reduction beard. but he still got reelected. so now he has no incentive to sell out the left to the republicans. and the reality is that--thanks to the terms of the legislation that the republicans themselves wrote--if no deal is reached, the president will get what he wants on upper class tax rates. almost all the high cards are in the president's hand, and the republicans are the ones who put them there.
