Fiscal Cliff – It Doesn’t Look Good

We have now seen an offer from the President to Republicans for what he seems to think is a good compromise.  All in all, it does not look good at all for the whole process.

What we have is an offer that says to Republicans in effect, "Here's a compromise that looks exactly like what I want to do."  In the meantime, the President is gearing up for his annual vacation in Hawaii.  The vacation is set to take place over the course of 20 days and will have him away from the White House and Congress during the negotiation period for the fiscal cliff.  So let's make sure we are clear on this.  The President wants it done his way and he won't even be around to lead the charge on this one.  In other words, the same thing as before, only this time.

This President has shown no will to lead and thinks that he can hoodwink Republicans into agreeing with him simply because he won a 3 percentage point re-election.  Basically a 3 million vote difference in a country that consists of 300 million people.  Yeah, what a landslide!

Charles Krauthammer has said that he thinks the GOP needs to walk away from the table.  I think that he is right.  The President is showing that taking a break is more important to him than coming up with an agreement that works for everyone.  He doesn't even come up with a compromise that works.  His idea of compromise consists of a tax increase, vague promises of spending cuts without naming them and, believe it or not, another stimulus plan.  Yes, that's right, just when you thought the last one didn't work, in comes this one.  Stimulus 2 The Revenge!  This time, it'll work, really, at least we hope.

If this is an example of what negotiations will be like, we are in trouble.  While normally I would say it is great to have the President on vacation, because he can't possibly screw things up when he is not in town, I think this time, the Hawaiian holiday needs to be postponed until things get solved.  In fact, that would be a great way to make it happen.  Imagine how fast this would get done since Obama wants to get to Hawaii as quickly as possible.  Don't expect it, but I wonder if John Boehner and Republicans everywhere need to challenge the President to stay in Washington until a deal is completed.  If that happens, then we know something will get done and done fast.