Michele Bachmann explains what she wants out of a tax cut deal:
I would like to get the current tax policy extended as far into the future as we possibly can.
As Bachmann says, she'd be happy to extend current tax policy temporarily instead of permanently -- the thing that matters to her is that we extend current tax policy instead of changing it. In other words, she opposes anything that decouples across-the-board tax cuts on all income below $250,000 from the Bush tax cuts that only go to wealthy individuals.
Obviously, the fact that Michele Bachmann says her objective is to extend current tax policy doesn't necessarily mean she's going to get her way. But it does make clear that if the final outcome of this tax debate is an extension of current policy -- whether temporary or permanent -- then Michele Bachmann and her fellow Republicans have prevailed over President Obama's plan to allow the tax cuts on income over $250,000 expire.
The only way to make President Obama that is to decouple middle-income and high-income tax cuts from each other. Ideally, that means allowing the high-income cuts to expire on schedule while continuing the other tax cuts. Democrats can achieve that goal by simply holding a vote. But if they insist on compromise, compromise means extending the high-income cuts temporarily while making the middle-income ones permanent.
But if we end up extending current tax policy, with no decoupling, then it's a clear defeat for President Obama's original plan -- it's not a compromise. Compromise means both sides make some sacrifice. And giving Michele Bachmann exactly what she wants is not an example of both sides making some sacrifice.