So many headlines, so little news.
Boehner: Obama must make the next move on ‘fiscal cliff’
“If the president doesn’t agree with our proposal and our outline, I think he’s got an obligation to send one to the Congress and a plan that can pass both chambers of Congress,” Boehner said, adding that the plan Obama offered in recent days “couldn’t pass either house of the Congress.”Meanwhile, during a meeting with a business lobbying group, the president rejected any notion that he would allow Republicans to use the debt limit to force tax and spending concessions on Democrats.“We’re not going to play that game next year,” Obama said in remarks Wednesday to the Business Roundtable. “If Congress in any way suggests they’re going to tie up negotiations over debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again as part of a budget negotiation, I will not play that game.”
Of course the debt limit will not give Republicans any leverage. The so called “Doomsday” plan, which the media is hyping as “gaining momentum” is a dead end.
O holds all the fiscal-cliff cards:
Polls say Americans would be twice as likely to blame Republicans as Democrats for the failure to reach a deal. Now more than ever, Republicans should know better than to pretend polls aren’t telling them something….The truth is, every way you look at it, the GOP is trapped. Republican politicians will cave and give the president most of what he wants. The only real question is when. The answer is: Probably at the worst possible time, when they’ve done even more damage to the party’s “brand.”Here’s some small comfort for Republican politicians trapped in this Hell: On Nov. 6, the American people chose this box.We get the government we ask for.
I say call his bluff. If a deal which tackles deficits from both revenue and spending can be reached this month, great.
If not, pass a 90 day extension of current tax rates and whatever else is needed to postpone the “cliff,” and go home for Christmas to give time for a Grand Bargain which puts Democratic sacred cows on the table.
Let Harry Reid refuse to bring it to a vote, and Obama refuse to sign it. Their inaction will be the reason for taxes rising for everyone.
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