Dr. Pangloss
Member
The revenue is not the issue, dude. It's about drawing a line in the sand, beyond this line you do not - Walter
And I don't want to hear about poisoning the well. Obama compromised with this bill and what has been the aftermath? Boehner is saying he will no longer privately negotiate with him, McConnell is taking shots, republicans are waiting to take the economy hostage, etc. You deal with a bully by beating his ass, not giving him half your lunch money.
Obama already offered to raise Medicare eligibility, and reports say he was willing to STILL add chained CPI to a deal in late December. That should tell you he is more interested in the glory of accomplishment/success than protecting the social net. As I said earlier, if republicans truly cared about conservative dogma they could have exploited him for the last two years, just because he apparently wants David Brooks to write nice things about him.
You're context of how our government works is laughable. Boehner can't introduce his own tax cut bill after the fiscal cliff? There won't be any blue dog Senators in Louisiana, North Carolina, or Alaska to help him? How do you think the original Bush tax cuts got through? How do you think Medicare Part D or No Child Left Behind happen? Or Clinton's SCHIP? Or Reagan's tax cuts or his Social Security Reform? It happen the way the fiscal cliff deal did. Obama effectively split the Republican caucus. He got 85 Republican Congress members, and 89 total Senate members to sign off on a deal that was all tax increases and no spending cuts. What are you going to say if that happens again in the debt limit deal? This is how legislating works.