The President Negotiates With Himself

John Boehner on Capitol Hill, Dec. 18, 2012. Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency John Boehner on Capitol Hill, Dec. 18, 2012. 

We have seen this so many times in the past four years that I certainly hope President Obama is not falling for it again.

Take a problem, any problem—economic meltdown, debt ceiling, rising deficits, you name it—which Republicans and Democrats are supposed to resolve through negotiation. Mr. Obama says he is ready to talk, and makes an initial offer that includes concessions to right-wing demands. Then he offers more concessions.

Republicans also claim they’re ready to talk, and maybe in private they offer compromises (like we’re told John Boehner did over the debt ceiling in 2011). But in public they stand firm on their positions, stick to their talking points and brush back whatever the president suggests as not enough.

Eventually they meet somewhere around the president’s 20-yard line.

It’s happening again, right now, in the fiscal cliff talks.

Through the election season Mr. Obama said he favored extending the Bush tax cuts for incomes under $200,000 (for single returns) or $250,000 (married). But he argued that taxes on the wealthy should rise. Asking more from the wealthy was a veritable campaign promise.

In late November, Mr. Obama proposed $1.6 trillion in new revenue, largely from higher taxes on the wealthy, and signaled he was open to finding $400 billion in savings from Medicare. Remember that the president previously signed into law over $1 trillion in spending cuts, and that if Congress does nothing at all taxes will go up on everyone, automatically.

Mr. Boehner, for his part, insisted on structural reforms to entitlement programs and offered $800 billion in new revenue (though it wasn’t clear how he’d arrive at that figure). He suggested extending all of the Bush tax cuts, forever, while closing (unspecified) loopholes and curtailing deductions.

Mr. Obama wanted spending on infrastructure to stimulate the economy. Mr. Boehner came back with a counter-offer—how about no spending at all? Mr. Obama wanted the authority to raise the debt ceiling, without a fight. Mr. Boehner offered nothing on this.

Now, a month later, what’s going on? Mr. Boehner has suggested extending the debt limit for a year, and letting rates increase on income above $1 million.

Mr. Obama, meanwhile, has moved more quickly, in a manner similar to spelunking. He came down to $1.4 trillion in revenues. Then, on Dec. 17, he insisted on lowering his offer even more, to $1.2 trillion. Let the tax cuts ride for incomes under $400,000, rather than $250,000. He put Social Security on the table, advancing a Boehner-approved proposal to slow cost-of-living increases.

And let’s not forget the context: The president just won re-election. Democrats kept control of the Senate and gained seats. Republicans kept control of the House—but lost seats.

A few hours after Mr. Obama made his Dec. 17 proposal, Mr. Boehner’s spokesman made clear that the Republicans will continue standing by while Mr. Obama negotiates with himself. “Any movement away from the unrealistic offers the President has made previously is a step in the right direction,” he said. “We hope to continue discussions with the president so we can reach an agreement that is truly balanced and begins to solve our spending problem.”

Get it? The nation has a spending problem. How long have we been hearing that particular bit of propaganda? The nation has a budget problem, meaning a spending and revenue problem.

This morning, Jonathan Weisman reported that Mr. Boehner has a new plan – let the Democrats agree to raise tax rates on incomes over $1 million and then run the debate over spending and entitlement cuts into next year, using the debt ceiling as a cudgel.

He called this Plan B. It’s Plan A.