Cliff View

Here is how I see it.

The Republicans have accepted that they lost the election and will have to give in on raising taxes. But they wanted to salvage a fig leaf by limiting deductions rather than hiking the rates. It's si x one or half a dozen of the other. Taxes go up either way. But this way they could say they didn't raise rates. Well Obama is having none of that. He doesn't care about the revenues anyway. It was never about the deficit or revenues. It's about puishing success and he wants a chunk out of that fine 2% ass. "Any old pound of flesh will not do! I want THAT sliver of ass from THAT 2%."

So let him have it. But do not try to mitigate it in any way. Don't shave a half a point here. Don't beg for an extra 1% on capital gains. That will only be used to blame you later. YOU will then be the reason it didn't work. YOU didn't give us a BIG ENOUGH hike to fix the problem. Republicans need to stand aside and vote present. Give them what they want and make them own it.