Obama fails to negotiate a compromise on taxes

NY Times:

Obama Accuses Republicans of Blocking Tax Compromise

In remarks taped for broadcast on NBC, President Obama implored Congress to act within the next 48 hours to avert the sharpest tax increases and benefit cuts scheduled to take effect on Tuesday.
Why want Obama compromise?  He has shown himself to be one of the worst negotiators in history.  His central fault is a tendency to try to retrade a deal that has already been struck.  That is what he did during the debt limit debate that led to the current impasse and he is showing the same inability to strike a deal.  To really get a deal he needs to understand the perspective of the Republicans and he seems clueless in that regard.

The Times headline does gives clues to Obama's failure.  Republicans are not blocking compromise anymore than Obama is.  But by presenting the differences in that light Obama is only making it harder to reach an agreement.  What he should be saying is that there are still some differences that need to be bridged in order to get an agreement and that he will work with the Republicans to bride those differences.  In stead what he is telling Republicans is that he is not going to compromise further on issues that are important to both sides.  In other words it is a waste of time to discuss it with him further and get ready to go over the cliff.\

In doing so, Obama confirms that he is more comfortable doing that than in reaching an agreement.  While the media talks about the Tea Party as a problem, on the left there are extremist who don't want a deal either and Obama has been pandering to them by trying to look tough and in the process has lost a chance to strike an early deal.

We are again seeing evidence of Obama's overrated intellect.  He is all wrapped up in the "social justice" nonsense that will produce a tax code that will destroy incentives and lead to less revenue and another recession.

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