Now that the Party has already surrendered the Bush tax cuts. Those have already been made permanent, so avoiding their expiration is no longer a bargaining chip.
Meanwhile for leverage, Republicans have
1. the sequestration
2. Government shutdown
3. default
And their starting postion in the "negotiation" is
R. The Ryan budget, which the House Republicans already passed, which supposedly balances the budget in ten years while at the same time cutting the top income tax rate from 39.6% to 25%.
Now on the Democratic side, what is Obama asking for? What are the Democratic Senators asking for?
D. A balanced approached to deficit reduction including spending cuts AND tax increases.
Okay. What tax increases? What is the Obama/Senate dream plan (if we could get Republicans to pretend they were sane and go along with something reasonable, or be pressured by the American people to agree with the Democrats "Contract for America".)
At this point, even I myself, a bit of a political junkie, have no idea what the Obama/Senate proposal is, except perhaps the vague mush above that I just stated.
If I know Obama, his starting plan will be
OP - We only give Republicans 75% of what they want.
I mean, if Obama has a plan, he sure is not using the bully pulpit to promote it. He will probably spend more energy promoting the final result as a "victory".
His victory will be - Republican get 85% of what they want, Democrats get the Buffett rule. And because many Republicans will shed crocodile tears about the Buffett rule, and because they will then not shut the government down or hold the debt increase hostage, Obama will declare that a victory. Ha, ha, we stood strong and made them accept the Buffett rule, and they only got 85% of what they wanted.
My own goal, and hope is - NOTHING gets passed. That's the only way I would see this as a victory, because I guarantee that the Republican House will never allow anything that I like, or consider good for the country, to pass.
= new reply since forum marked as read