What Would W. Do?

We now have 30 days left until the fiscal cliff is reached and the country faces severe repercussions for Washington's failure to come to a budget compromise.  While the President should feel emboldened by being re-elected, I am shocked at the offer he recently gave Republicans.  It wasn't just that he wanted more taxes than he had pushed for while campaigning, that is to be expected.  It wasn't just that he wanted an immediate approval of 80 billion dollars in stimulus spending for the "infrastructure" the guy's a spender, this request would be expected.  It wasn't even his request to put off sequestration for a year, that was troubling, but it would be easy to take that off the table if both sides could simply come to an agreement.

No, what was really troubling was his request to have sole authority to raise the debt ceiling without congress' approval.... forever.  Basically, the man talked of a need for a "balanced" approach to solving the fiscal cliff after the election, but he wants to be able to spend perpetually with no more oversight?  That kinda takes away all balance and puts all the control into one mans hands.  The offer was shocking and frankly, could not be taken seriously.

And so now, here again we find ourselves, less than 30 days out, and rather than stay in Washington and meet with Republicans to talk over the deal, the President went to a rally in Pennsylvania where he implored republicans to accept the deal and not hold the American people "hostage."  This is a term he often uses, and remember this is what he did, he went to hold a rally, and demonize the other side... 30 days out.

That got me thinking about how President Bush handled his parties defeat in the 2006 mid-term elections which saw democrats take control of both houses of Congress.  President Bush signaled a willingness to work with both sides, and had a considerable amount of praise for then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the 2007 State of the Union.  When it came to the budget he and the GOP worked with the dems, giving them most of what the wanted and still passing a budget.

That brings us back to today.  What would W. do about the fiscal cliff?  In the past President Bush accepted his parties defeat in 2006 and he worked across the aisle.  He didn't run off to hold rally and he didn't hold rallies against democrats.  He was elected to help run the country, and he did.  So it is then reasonable to assume he would do the same now.  At least that's my observation.

What will President zero do?  My guess is more of the same, but unless he takes both the debt raising clause and putting off sequestration, off the table, no deal will be reached and the unfortunate victims of this political miscarriage will be the American People.

-Zach