Should the GOP walk away from ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations - more and more seem to be considering this seemingly crazy notion.
The logic behind it would arise from recognition of a reality about Obama that I think even at this late date some people just can’t seem to fully accept - ie, that he’s a completely viscous player when it comes to his own political fortunes - there’s no lie he won’t tell, no line he won’t cross, no manipulative gesture he won’t essay - and whether that Machiavellian glee is just the expression of a prodigious ego or a prodigous hatred for traditional [don't you dare say white ruling class!] American values - or whether it’s simply him identifying entirely a victory by him personally as equalling in toto a victory for the movement in general doesn’t really matter - fact remains he plays to win at any cost, including romps over fiscal cliffs.
So, given that, the logic here would be that Obama’s only intention viz negotiations is to weaken the GOP so he can wipe them out in 2014 leaving him with two years where he’s free to turn America into whatever socialist abomination the left has in mind - to that end, either get them to capitulate and agree roughly to his desires on revenues and cuts which will split the GOP and cause uproar in Tea Party - or draw them out in bogus talks that in the end will be crafted to make it look like he tried oh so sincerely for an honest deal but alas evil, unreasonable [don’t forget racist] republicans, serving the 1% at the expense of the 99%, refused to play nice - and then off the cliff we go - but remember he’ll have the press more or less on his side, he’ll have the oval office, he can go out and give class warfare speeches across the country etc etc - and so even though the economy will likely tip back into recession with a cliff jump he’ll figure he can blame it all on the GOP and, again, they’ll be toast in 2014. After all, exit polls showed a majority were quite willing to blame Bush rather than Obama for current economic malaise - why on earth would one think he can’t mouth the same incantations over the next two years to conjure forth the same delusional magic?
If you believe the above scenario is true [and I think it probably is] the reason you’d walk away now becomes obvious: any negotiations you engage in are just a trap. Obama has put a ludicrously insufficient, one might say shamelessly disingenuous offer on the table - walking away extracts you from the trap and forces Obama to defend it.
But of course you can’t simply just walk away, refusing to sign anything - Obama probably wins that gambit just as surely as if you’d walked into his trap to begin with. No - acknowledging the lurking danger of the fiscal cliff you’d have to name what exactly you would be willing to sign in order to avoid it even while still refusing to engage in bogus negotiations with the Obama - and to do that you’re gonna have to convincingly explain to the people the rationale behind walking away which will necessarily mean saying some very nasty things about the president’s true intentions - no walk in the park that - which, again, is why you’d have to name exactly what it is you would sign - and there are only two choices here the way I see it: without any negotiations, agree to the offer Obama has put on the table, thereby making the democrats entirely responsible for the economic consequences that follow; or right now agree to sit down and sign the only bipartisan settlement out there and the only truly bipartisan agreement that will probably ever see the light of day given current dynamics - Simpson/Bowles. Now, SB is hardly a 'great deal' if you're a conservative, but then that's the point because probably even more so it's not a great deal if you're Obama but he can't simply dismiss it if the GOP is willing to swallow hard and take it - so that's a win, or at least not a glaring loss.
One can see how this risky move might appeal to disenchanted, cynical types like me who see Obama for the ruthless schemer, shameless political manipulator he is, don't think you can beat him by dancing around the edges [especially with the press running cover for him, which is really the secret behind everything Obama does] and believe that if you’re backed into a corner only a bold and cunning move is gonna save your ass and the only cleverly cunning bold move I can think of is the studied walk away - can't look merely petulant - regardless, I hold out very little hope for the success of such a venture, if only for one simple reason: for the game to work you’d need a very, very compelling spokesperson out front selling the whys and wherefores of it - and who would that be? Ryan? I dunno - possibly - and then the entire house GOP would have to be onboard with it - and so again if one wants to engage in the probable fantasy of this gambit the thing you absolutely without question are gonna need to produce is a smooth talker who can make the sale - cause without that, it's most likely a suicide run.
