The President has done Democrats HUGE favor this past week. Especially in the Senate.
I guess that meeting he had with Democratic Leadership on November 18 left him feeling worse than everyone thought.
At the White House meeting earlier in the day, Obama used the Oval Office sit-down to quietly push back on grousing by Democratic leaders about the lack of a coherent White House message on tax cuts, asking Reid for more clarity on what compromise his conference could ultimately agree on. But the legislative leaders, while cordial, offered up a wide array of proposals, none of which appeared to offer a clear path to passage, given the united front of opposition promised by newly empowered Hill Republicans.
What really happened at that meeting?
And why is all this GOOD for Democrats?
One administration official told POLITICO that Obama was so dispirited after his Nov. 18 meeting with the Democratic leadership that he decided, then and there, to place his faith in direct talks with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
We all remember that quote. It's Politico, so please use the grains of salt you find necessary. But the meaning is clear. He couldn't make a good deal with Democrats that could get passed, so he turned to Republicans to get something done.
But this deal is not the ending.
Get used to deals like this.
That's what he's going to have to do to pass anything at all through this Congress. Think about it. Senators like Sanders and Brown WILL filibuster much of the proposals coming from the House. Legislation coming from the Senate will be watered down even further. We all know this.
And it frustrates the hell out of us.
So one of the things the President did this week, was to get Congressional Democrats to actually FIGHT. To actually engage. I'm pretty sure this deal will pass, but there will be more sweeteners added.
And remember that the President, most of all, wants to be seen as someone who GETS THINGS DONE. And unfortunately, that's his PRIME motivation. He wants to be an "accomplisher". After all, it's good political strategy to be seen as "doing things" and "getting things done". Call it "caving" if you will, it seems he'd rather deal than "stand for principle". Meaning he may deal with whoever will work with him to pass something. Now I do believe him when he says he wants things to "move left". Which means that if DEMOCRATS become the party of NO, he will have to cater to Democratic needs to get things passed. And the path to that is clear.
Because think about the makeup of the Senate: You will have 47 Republicans. PLUS Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Joe Manchin, Mary Landrieu, and one or two others. That's MORE than 50, but less than 60. So it will be up to a few Senators on the Democratic side to be able to say NO in order to get better deals. And we also must pressure Reid to include some of those Senators when bills go to conference.
So, in conclusion, the President did us a HUGE favor by waking us up to what will be coming out of the new Congress.
Let's make it US who he's "forced to deal with".