All Quiet on the Fiscal Cliff Front: Obama Rushes Back to No Negotiations

[TomCADem]

Source: TIME

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are engaged in a playground game of “who goes first,” daring each political party to let the year end without resolving a Jan. 1 confluence of higher taxes and deep spending cuts that could rattle a recovering, but-still-fragile economy.

President Barack Obama returns from Hawaii Thursday to this increasingly familiar deadline showdown in the nation’s capital, with even a stopgap solution now in doubt. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that the country appears headed over the “fiscal cliff.”

* * *

Obama has been pushing for a variant of that Senate bill that would include an extension of jobless aid and some surgical spending reductions to prevent the steeper and broader spending cuts from kicking in.

For the Senate to act, it would require a commitment from Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell not to demand a 60-vote margin to consider the legislation on the Senate floor. McConnell’s office says it’s too early to make such an assessment because Obama’s plan is unclear on whether extended benefits for the unemployed would be paid for with cuts in other programs or on how it would deal with an expiring estate tax, among other issues.


Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2012/12/27/no-deal-in-sight-as-deadline-for-fiscal-deal-nears/?xid=gonewsedit&google_editors_picks=true

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The biggest problem I have with the reporting is the repeated efforts to create a false equivalency between Republicans and Democrats, if not blame Democrats outright. Indeed, the media lets Republicans spew the talking point that Democrats must come up with a solution to their failure of their Plan B nonsense. In other words, Democrats must save Republicans from themselves.

[plethoro]

1. Is anyone but me starting to wonder if this is all part of

kabuki theater, planned and rehearsed for months?

[A Simple Game]

2. Yes, there is actually very little difference between the parties. n/t

[Cha]

8. there's a HUGE Difference between the two parties..

h/t P2BlibKansas http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022061638

[geek tragedy]

4. The Republicans can't coordinate a vote within their own caucus.

So no, there is no grand conspiracy involving everyone in Washington.

[plethoro]

5. That's what the inverse fascists want you to think. And what will

be the necessary ancillary actions needed to be taken once the cliff is jumped? Will they include some kind of "We know this is painful but Americans must come together" cuts to the social safety net? First quarter, January even, will be real interesting.

[TomCADem]

7. Sorry Joe Lieberman - "It's not 'both their fault'"

I once again am amazed at the degree to which the false equivalency narrative has taken hold. The effect is to essentially give Republicans a free pass to act like extremists.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/27/16189905-its-not-both-their-fault?lite

As Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) gets ready to depart the Senate after four terms, he's leaving on a predictable note: blaming "both sides" for everything.

Even amid the current meltdown in Washington and the consistent Republican opposition to Mr. Obama, Mr. Lieberman insists on blaming both parties equally in a way that some Democrats say works for him but ignores reality.

"The Republicans will say not only in the fiscal negotiations, but in general, they were constantly bending and willing to compromise, and it's the Democrats' fault," he said. "But the truth is, they're both right. It's both their fault."

That's not "the truth" at all. To pretend that there should be a pox on both houses, when only one deserves, is to deny reality altogether.

* * *
It's not "both their fault." One side is being reasonable; the other side is being nihilistic. One need not be partisan or biased to see what is plainly true.

[Cha]

10. Yeah, we all know about LIEman's Faults.. And,

so Happy he's finally getting the f*** outta there so we don't have to hear from him NO MORE.

[Garion_55]

3. go government! get it done! we have faith! woot!

yeah right.


kids in jr high school would do a better job then the clowns running the gop now.

at least the dems are trying looks like the republicans have just plain given up.

[yurbud]

6. great analysis after the story. Even accepting the construct of "fiscal cliff" is major concession

to GOP.

It's more like end of trying to renegotiate a better deal with hostage takers.

[Cha]

9. the corporatemediawhore$ on their relentless course to prop up Plutocrats..

The biggest problem I have with the reporting is the repeated efforts to create a false equivalency between Republicans and Democrats, if not blame Democrats outright. Indeed, the media lets Republicans spew the talking point that Democrats must come up with a solution to their failure of their Plan B nonsense. In other words, Democrats must save Republicans from themselves.