Follow up to the Plan-B fiasco

    It looks like were going over the cliff unless people start working together on this.  The fact that Boehner was unable to get the votes necessary to get his Plan-B through the House means that his ability to negotiate with Obama is seriously hampered.  How can he and Obama come up with a fix if the Speaker of the House can't rally his own party?  So the end run around the President has really blown up in Boehner's face.  The freshman Republicans that rode the Tea Party wave into office have pushed the party to the right, and it seems like they might not play ball with the party establishment.  Is this going to be a the new dynamic in the House?  I'm not sure if moving further to the right is the best way to return the Republican Party to power. 

Plan B - a great name for a flawed budget plan

So the House Speaker John A. Boehner, wasted a bunch of time and political capital on a "Plan B." It was a desperate attempt to make an end run around the President. It is clear that this plan was dead on arrival, which makes its name too appropriate.
I think Boehner is trying to salvage a situation that places him and Congressional Republicans in a sticky situation. I still don't expect the President to budge on letting the Bush era tax cuts expire. Which leaves the Republicans a choice, cave in or go over the cliff. Or you could try and paint the President as the bad guy by trying to get a different plan through congress, and reacting when the plan is killed. Boehner could then try and reframe the debate saying that they had a good plan and that it was Obama's fault we went over the cliff. Oh wait, Plan B was stopped before it was even conceived!

The Fiscal Cliff

    Well, it looks like high stakes politics are here to stay.  Obama doesn't appear to be willing to compromise on the issues of tax hikes on the wealthy.  So there are two options, either we go off the cliff or we don't.  I don't think that Democrats or the Republicans want to go off the cliff.  The question is who turns first in this game of economic chicken? Coming off the election victory, I don't think Obama will swerve first, that leaves the Republicans to come to the table with a viable alternative, because I don't think they'll cave in to the President's plan.  The Republicans could also be planning to run the country off the cliff Thelma and Louise style in the hopes that Obama is left holding the political and economic bag.  Fortunately I think only Fox news would see it that way.  Moreover, if I remember correctly the Republicans tried the same thing before with governmental shut downs and it didn't work.  They need to get it through their heads that the trickle down economic plan is a myth and America doesn't buy it anymore.  Tax cuts for the wealthy grows off shore bank accounts not jobs.