I, like many others, have been watching
the negotiations between congressional Republicans and the White
House in regards to the approaching fiscal cliff. What I'm seeing so
far is not filling me with confidence.
First, we have a president who does not
understand the twin concepts of negotiation and compromise. It
appears that he believes what he wants is what he will get and that
compromise is for the other party. (That isn't compromise. That's
capitulation.)
Second, we have the Republican
congressional leaders who don't trust the president to negotiate in
good faith. They have good reason to be distrustful considering
Obama's history in regards to negotiations. The last time the
Congressional Republicans went through this they thought they had a
deal with the president when at the last minute he dropped a
deal-killing bombshell on them, demanding a non-negotiable additional
$400 billion in tax increases. As the saying goes, once burned, twice
shy, and Obama has burned them one too many times. So any deal he
proposes that sounds like a compromise will be looked upon with a lot
of skepticism.
Will the president and Congress be able
to come up with an acceptable deal to fend off going over the fiscal
cliff? Or will Obama act like Nero and fiddle while the economy burns
to the ground around him?