Obama’s “Tell” In Fiscal Cliff Negotiations

Conservative HQ ^ | 11/12/2012 | George Rasley

[Powers Not Delegated]

Experienced negotiators, and poker players, always look for the opponent’s “tell” -- that one little blink or tic that helps them see through the opponent’s deception to reveal what the opponent is really thinking or what cards he really holds.

For those Republicans who thought Obama was actually serious about avoiding the government’s “fiscal cliff,” he just blinked and revealed his cards – and they show a hand that Democrats have held before and know how to play to entice Republicans into making a sucker bet.

What Obama said to reveal his hand was that Congress should pass his tax increase plan now and hold-off on making any decisions on spending cuts until next year.

To Capitol Hill’s establishment Republican politicians, never eager in the first place to make the hard choices involved in reducing spending, this sounded like manna from Heaven: an opportunity to pass a tax increase they see as inevitable, while looking reasonable and kicking the can down the road on cutting spending.

This is a sucker bet that got Republicans skunked when they raised taxes and President George H.W. Bush went back on his “read my lips, no new taxes” pledge.

And it is a sucker bet that even President Ronald Reagan, with all his political skill, took to his regret.

[MrB]

I didn’t ask why he would.
I just stated that that’s what he wants.
I KNOW why he wants to do it.

[Powers Not Delegated]

An interesting point about O’Neil v Boehner. It may not all be about just personality and leadership style but it could be about the decline of representative democracy and the relative shrinkage of the power wielded by “the people’s house” and the rise of the Imperial Presidency.