Reply #37: He'll have two problems

[BeyondGeography]

First, if the economy has improved, the Republicans will say it was because he did it their way and held the line on taxes. "Why kill our still weak recovery with a tax hike?" they will scream. And it will have legs.

The other problem, as you suggest, is he didn't have the political will or the votes last time, so why will anyone expect it to be different in 2013?

What he will have going for himself in the 2012 campaign, however, is the absurdity of the Republican approach to the deficit, which is cut, cut, cut, without even contemplating a revenue-based solution. He will get plenty of mileage out of that in the campaign, and recycle the arguments that he traded off this time around for legislative gains at the end of the session.