From POLITICO:
…[President Barack] Obama, vilified by opponents for ducking the debt debate earlier this year, has seized the opportunity to portray himself as the champion of a $4 trillion “grand bargain” on tax and entitlement reform. This, after Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who spent months pushing the president in that direction, pulled out of any attempt to “go big” over the weekend.
“Obama wants $4 trillion in debt reduction, while GOP wants only $2-$3 trillion,” wrote veteran Democratic pollster Geoff Garin. “[It] seems clear now which one is serious about tackling the debt.”…
At the moment, Obama would seem to have little leverage to force the GOP into increasing taxes on the wealthy, a step he has made a prerequisite for a deal. And his demands that the GOP come up with hundreds of billions in new “revenues” were received with indifference, if not hostility, by Republican leaders who met with the president Monday afternoon…
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EDITOR: In order to appear reasonable, yea patriotic, Republicans are now in a position of having to agree to some taxes on the rich which is a poison pill with their conservative constituents. Their intransigence is likely to lose them swing voters in next year’s presidential election. The longer they draw the debt ceiling issue out, the worse it becomes for them. Also, Tea Baggers are likely to take control of the party leadership.
