Seeing as the republican party thinks it is apparently perfectly legitimate to hold the entire government and country hostage over items they could not successfully implement through our democratic legislative process, I think it is high time the Senate and House Dems joined the fray and submitted their three demands to Obama and the republicans to counter the republican hostage demands for consideration in this game of groans. Obama could then agree with the republicans that, yes, this is a negotiation and that it will be a true negotiation, one where he will let the republicans have their top choice out of the three items they are demanding, then let the Dems select their top choice. A true horse trade. My top three demands would be: 1. Dump obamacare and adopt Medicare for all in 6 months; 2. A 10 cents per financial transaction tax applicable to all stock and other financial market transactions, effective November 1, 2013; and 3. A nationwide minimum wage of $14/hour indexed for inflation.
Then republicans will need to choose wisely--their base or their investors or their tax ideology. Force Obama to make it a true, old-fashioned negotiation.