Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have to worry about being reelected anymore, or maybe it’s because he has the Republicans by the short and curlies for the first time since he lost his 60 vote supermajority in the Senate, but the president has a new uncompromising tone. It was on full display during his press conference. The most interesting response came when he was asked if he could envision a situation in which we would go over the fiscal cliff. He basically shrugged and said that he was sure we could all envision that situation. It would come if the Republicans didn’t extend the Bush tax cuts for 98% of Americans and 97% of small businesses.
The translation is that John Boehner must convince his caucus to break their pledge to Grover Norquist or over the cliff we go. I’m pretty sure Boehner would hand his Speaker’s gavel to Nancy Pelosi right now if he could.
