Obama opens opportunity for GOP to play chicken (and they, of course, do)

[Bluebear]

Fresh off apologizing to Republicans for not reaching out to them enough, Mitch McConnell has made very clear he is going to hold our nation hostage to Republican demands.

President Obama and GOP leadership may be nearing a compromise on the Bush tax cuts after a surprisingly cordial meeting between GOP and Democratic leaders on Tuesday, reports the Washington Post. "We've got a path forward" on tax cuts, said Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, Ill., after the meeting, though attendees declined to elaborate. The session resulted in the creation of a bipartisan group to hash out a compromise before the Bush tax cuts expire in January. Democrats may agree to a temporary extension of tax cuts for all income levels in exchange for extension of jobless benefits and ratification of the START treaty with Russia. President Obama apologized during the meeting for not making a greater effort to reach out to Republican lawmakers during his first two years in office. For their part, Republican leaders seemed receptive to the President's overtures. Republican Rep. Eric Cantor, Va., said: "I was encouraged by the president's remarks regarding his perhaps not having reached out enough to us in the last session, and that this meeting was the beginning of a series in which he hoped that we could work together." Some commentators say that Obama may not have much of a choice when it comes to his goal of letting tax cuts expire for those earning over $250,000. "Unless they believe they will benefit more than Republicans from a standoff in which taxes go up," writes David Leonhardt of the New York Times, "their only choice now is among various versions of retreat."

Since Obama has publicly and ridiculously proclaimed he has somehow sinned by not working hard enough to reach across the aisle to Republicans, all forty two GOP Senators have expressed their so-called willingness to work with Obama by holding the lame duck session hostage to their demands:

GOP Preparing to Block Dems Agenda, Parties Play Chicken With Lame Duck

With little progress on any of the must-pass provisions for the lame-duck session of Congress, Republicans are preparing for a showdown over the still-swollen agenda.

FOX has obtained a letter being circulated to Senate Republicans that calls for a filibuster blockade of any legislation not directly related to time-sensitive votes on taxes and spending.

All 42 Republican senators have signed on to the plan, which would effectively end Democratic hopes to push through controversial measures like allowing gays in the military to express their sexualities and offering amnesty to illegal immigrants who attend college or volunteer for the military.

It isn't like we have seen this sort of thing before. Obama capitilutates or triangulates away everything before negotiations start. This time he did it by falsely claiming he didn't work hard enough with Republicans and therefore giving them the false justification to shove their agenda down our throats without getting anything else accomplished in the lame duck.

http://gay.americablog.com/2010/12/obama-opens-opportunity-for-gop-to-play.html