Daniel Gross thinks the GOP is losing the fiscal cliff fight:
The reality should be seeping in to viewers of the Sunday shows that the Republicans don’t have a game plan. They don’t have a single, specific proposal to avoid the fiscal cliff. And even if they had one, they don’t have a roadmap to get there. They keep expecting Obama to come back with something more to their liking, which they’d also reject. Many Republicans literally don’t understand what is happening. Sen. Charles Grassley tweeted over the weekend that he was frustrated that President Obama hadn’t embraced the recommendation of the Bowles-Simpson Commission. Apparently, he is one of the many people in Washington who doesn’t understand that Bowles-Simpson recommended letting the Bush tax rates on the wealthy expire, while also proposing to cap or eliminate deductions primarily enjoyed by the wealthy.
I mentioned this before but it bears mentioning again. Bowles-Simpson assumed the Clinton tax rate for the wealthy would return before the real work could be done on balancing the budget. And a reader notes that my own suggestion last night that Obama simply ask the GOP to offer in deductions the same amount as raising the top rate would … is already in the record. To wit: Obama's November 14 presser:
With respect to the tax rates, I — I just want to emphasize, I am open to new ideas. If the Republican counterparts, or some Democrats, have a great idea for us to raise revenue, maintain progressivity, make sure the middle class isn’t getting hit, reduces our deficit, encourages growth, I’m not going to just slam the door in their face. I want to hear — I want to hear ideas from everybody.
What's left of my critique, then, is that if I wasn't fully aware of this explicit offer. As a blogger, that's my bad. But I'm pretty sure the American public isn't aware of that offer either.
The president has said his main problem in his first term was not providing a clear enough narrative. Problem not yet solved.
The Dish 