Loggerheads

President Obama was reaching into the middle during his first term, but as he and our Congress face the “fiscal cliff,” he is digging in his heels. Either the House Republicans accept a tax increase on the wealthiest segment of our nation or there will be no movement on the rest of the package. Republicans, many of whom signed off on the Grover Norquist “no tax hikes ever” pledge (although a few GOP have indicated that that pledge is no longer operative), want the President to lead with proposals to cut “entitlement programs.” But in the meantime, they have proposed massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare while maintaining their stance that even the top 2% of earners in the United States be protected from any tax increase as well.

Despite GOP claims that the narrow margin of victory (using the popular vs. the Electoral College vote) for Mr. Obama didn’t give him anywhere hear the “mandate from the people” that the President’s actions suggest, Mr. Obama so far won’t budge, taking his message on the road. The administration retorts that he won a second term, and that is more than enough for him to pursue the policies that were part of his election platform, particularly that part about taxing that 2% more which has overwhelming popular support. And then there is this little subtext: Mr. Obama is no longer facing another election in four years.

The strange reality, which will undoubtedly hit the markets hard and may impact our credit rating, is that if we go off that fiscal cliff, taxes will rise instantly (and massive cuts, particularly to defense, will kick in). Thus, everyone will pay higher taxes, so if the Congress were to address annulling the fiscal cliff after it has occurred, Republicans will be able to keep their pledge by voting for lower taxes at that time, with the full support of the President. Everyone knows this, and it puts the GOP in a horrible position. They could prevent chaos by voting the post-fiscal cliff scenario before it happens, creating much less damage to the nation than they would by voting after hell has arisen. While stalwarts from each party will always blame the other for pushing the country into fiscal hell, this time it will be the GOP that takes it on the chin from the view of the rest of the world and those constituents in the middle. For a party seeking to create a new electable platform, it is a lose-lose proposition.

Unfortunately, this brinksmanship and the debates over the precious House right to filibuster are nothing more than a signal to the global financial markets that the U.S. system of government has hit a wall, one that brings into question the very viability of American democracy. But with two extremely different philosophies of government – one clearly favoring incumbent wealth (as the purported job creators), religious fundamental social policies and a contraction of government and the other trying to moderate the polarization of wealth, embrace healthcare reforms that are part of every other Western power’s social structure and address the government’s direct role in re-stimulating the economy – there really doesn’t seem to be much room to find middle ground. Perhaps that is why the victor in the last election doesn’t want to broach that middle ground… yet.

Try as they might to lambast the President for not acceding to their request for the entitlement reform from the President and for him to agree to no tax increases even for the wealthiest folks, the GOP is going to have to find some wiggle room pretty quickly or they will provide serious ammunition to Democrats in the 2014 mid-term elections. But like a deer caught in quicksand, the GOP seems to be unwilling to grab the rope to pull themselves out, and their rapid jerky movements are pulling them in to the liquid mud faster. Democrats might be smug, but with the country facing some serious consequences that going over the fiscal cliff will create, even if it annulled shortly thereafter, I’m not smiling… and I suspect most of America is equally deeply concerned. It’s time for someone to blink, and blink fast. Tough talk is falling on deaf ears… everywhere.

I’m Peter Dekom, and we better find a way to compromise and run this country together, or there may be a new nation with a new government that will.