The fiscal cliff: Have Republicans forgotten how to negotiate?
President Obama has apparently learned the art of the deal. Can Republicans make him an offer he can't refuse?
Talks to avert driving off the fiscal cliff have hit a wall, according to Republican leaders. Indeed, President Obama and congressional Republicans are "a grand canyon" apart, concurs The Week's Paul Brandus. The problem? "The Republicans are, reportedly, outraged by President Obama's opening bid," says Joe Klein at TIME. He wants $1.6 trillion in tax increases over 10 years, $50 billion in immediate stimulus spending, an extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits, and control over raising the debt ceiling — all in return for $400 billion in future cuts to Medicare. Will he get all that? No. But as Republicans once knew, "that's how people negotiate": I make an offer, you make a counteroffer, we meet somewhere in the middle.
Why were Republicans shocked that the president asked for what he wanted? "We became so accustomed to Obama's earlier habit of making pre-emptive concessions that the very idea he'd negotiate in a perfectly normal way amazed much of Washington," says E.J. Dionne in The Washington Post. As they have for the past four years, Republicans "seem to hope a deal will be born by way of immaculate conception, with Obama taking ownership of all the hard stuff while they innocently look on." But after the election, it's a different card game now, and Obama is holding a much better hand. In other words, says Paul Krugman at The New York Times, "Obama has demanded that the GOP put up or shut up — and the response is an aggrieved mumble."
The idea that Obama used to pre-emptively surrender "would be a nice story to bolster the president's case if it were true," says Conn Carroll at The Washington Examiner. "Except it is not." This is how Obama has "negotiated" with Republicans since Day 1. "He expects to get everything he wants and is not willing to make any concessions. (Watch MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry favorably compare Obama's negotiating tactics to The Godfather below.) In this case, some Republicans are hedging on their "no new taxes" pledge, while Democrats aren't doing the same with their equivalent line in the sand: Keeping Social Security and Medicare sacrosanct, says Robert Samuelson at The Washington Post. Until Democrats put cuts to entitlement on the table, "they aren't bargaining in good faith."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I'm old enough to remember when Republicans insisted that anyone who said they wanted to cut Medicare was a demagogue, because I'm more than three weeks old," says Michael Grunwald at TIME. It's not that Republicans don't know how to negotiate, it's that they keep on changing their demands, then rewriting history to support their position du jour. "The press can't figure out how to weave those facts into the current narrative without sounding like it's taking sides, so it simply pretends that yesterday never happened." We probably won't get a clear list of GOP demands until the media stops acting as stenographers to an entire political party prone to "invent a new reality every day." So don't hold your breath.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Today's political cartoons - October 4, 2024
Cartoons Friday's cartoons - setting aside differences, discussing differences, and more
By The Week US Published
-
How could escalation in the Middle East affect the global economy?
Today's Big Question Oil prices have already risen but wider conflict could see supply chains disrupted more broadly
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
'Helene's death toll surpasses 200'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Will 'weirdly civil' VP debate move dial in US election?
Today's Big Question 'Diametrically opposed' candidates showed 'a lot of commonality' on some issues, but offered competing visions for America's future and democracy
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
1 of 6 'Trump Train' drivers liable in Biden bus blockade
Speed Read Only one of the accused was found liable in the case concerning the deliberate slowing of a 2020 Biden campaign bus
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court rejects challenge to CFPB
Speed Read The court rejected a conservative-backed challenge to the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published