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It doesn’t matter if a “Pres Romney” would have been less radical than “that guy”. It only matters what the GOP-e would have settled for after the fight.

It would have been close to the deal passed last night.

Why? Control of the White House wasn’t essential to this deal. What was essential is that both sides had enough levers of power to force a stalemate and the GOP-e is more afraid of a stalemate than the Rats.

The same “the media is going to crucify you” routine would have come into play. Etc. Etc.

When both sides can stall the process, the side more afraid of the stall is going to lose. That should be them, they have more to fear from government not running exactly as they want it to run. Time and time again, it’s the GOP-e that blinks.

I paid attention to the campaign. Romney talked a game. At the end of the day, he’s just another establishment shill and the outcome of this particular showdown wouldn’t have changed because the rats weren’t going to blink first.

Now. I think the Dems could be made to blink first. They could have been forced to accept extending the whole Bush Tax Cuts, just as they could be forced to accept much harsher spending cuts that they would otherwise want in the debt showdown coming up.

The media will be the left’s ally for about a month in any showdown. After that it would become clear that both sides are sticking to their guns, no matter what. At THAT point, any showdown (higher taxes on everybody, shutting down the government, etc) exponentially begins to hurt Democrats more.

It would take six weeks for the Dems to cave. We just don’t have true believers in leadership positions to wait out the other side.

We could have waited them out here and now, without President Romney. Instead, the GOP-e caved. How would Romney at the helm have been any different?

Would the GOP-e have had the guts to stand up for weeks/months at a time to get a better deal with Romney in charge? Of course not.