For the next two years, this is the general form of the Obama/GOP Kabuki theater about to unfold:

[brentspeak]

1) GOP rolls out legislation proposing to, say, allow US corporations to repatriate their overseas earnings at minimal or zero corporate tax rate

2) Obama threatens to veto the legislation (keep in mind: he never actually will)

3) The GOP threatens to kill funding for something like Planned Parenthood again

4) Obama caves in, forging an agreement with the Republicans: in return for the GOP not cutting funds to (fill-in-the-blank), he will, in fact, sign an extremely generous corporate tax repatriation bill.

4a) Some designated 3rd Way trolls on DU tsk-tsk the forums on the absolute need for Obama to make the agreement

5) Obama and GOP leaders pose for smiles at a legislation-signing photo-op in the Oval Office.

6) Because of the (fill-in-the-blank) legislation, virtually everyone in the nation becomes poorer at the expense of a few insanely wealthy individuals, yet most of that "everyone in the nation" are too uninformed/brainwashed to realize it.

[Scootaloo]

1. 7) Republicans introduce legislation to kill funding for whatever it was anyway

[underthematrix]

2. really we can control the GOP terrorist congress by NOT

buying shit. America is a consumer society and if we would STOP consuming retail we could these mother phuckers to their knees. but Americans seem to want to complain and not do the one thing that could give us control of these GOP terrorists.

[w4rma]

4. Good luck organizing that when we can't even organize enough people to come together on one day

and vote out corruption.

[AZ Progressive]

13. They control the stores we buy from

That's why boycotting doesn't work, unless there are liberal competitors to almost anything we need to buy. In so many places around the country, the only place you can buy so many things is from Walmart.

[Capt.Rocky300]

3. Or maybe Obama and the Republicans.......

will resurrect "The Grand Bargain" and screw all of us on Medicare and Social Security. At this point, nothing would surprise me.

[JDPriestly]

20. I'm willing to predict that they will screw us on Medicare and Social Secuirity.

And in 2016, we need a candidate who has consistently voted against measures that screw us on Medicare and Social Security and who will pledge to veto any bill put before him or her that messes with those programs. Same for Obamacare and many other programs that benefit people and not just corporations.

[Enthusiast]

23. And Democratic Party will forever be saddled with "cutting Social Security".

The president will not veto shit.

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. Oh, count on that happening.

[pkdu]

5. So stop at step 2 for a second...

explain why President Obama would NOT veto shit he didnt agree with?....logic fail at step 2

[Jim Lane]

7. Two main reasons

1) He's post-partisan and would rather reach accommodation.
2) The corporate tax repatriation provision, or other right-wing goal, will be included in necessary legislation. The Republicans have the threat advantage because shutting down the government bothers them less than it bothers Obama. Will he veto the interim bill to keep the government running just because it makes some technical change in corporate tax rules?

[pkdu]

8. Really?...Obama, essentially a dead-duck now and leaving ofice in 2 years

will sign onto for his legacy what you assert?

I think he'd rather make a future Prez own that shit...but you have you r own reason for thinking he is happy to own them?

[Jim Lane]

10. I'm looking at his record.

Start right with the first big issue, the stimulus bill. Obama proposed a bill that progressives said was too small and too heavily weighted toward tax cuts. He wanted to be postpartisan and cut a deal with the Republicans.

Obamacare - absolutely must include a robust public option, right up until the moment it didn't.

His administration has been fully responsible for the negotiation of TPP. He could have killed Keystone by now, but hasn't. Yes, I think he'll be happy to own TPP, and won't be very upset if he has to go along with Keystone as part of a compromise to get something else done.

[pnwmom]

12. The lack of a public option had NOTHING to do with Obama and everything to do with

the death of Ted Kennedy.

At that point, the only bill that had passed was the more conservative Senate bill that contained no public option. The only way to get any ACA was to send that exact same bill to the House for approval, as is.

Joe Lieberman, Independent of CT, was the most important person who gS stood in the way of getting a public option passed. He supported the ACA but not a public option and his vote turned out to be critical.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. And why were the Blue Dogs so kowtowed to?

Unless Obama was really a Blue Dog at heart and his progressive shtick was a big act, which is what I suspected all along?

[pnwmom]

18. What are you referring to with regard to the ACA?

[Jim Lane]

35. Obama didn't even ask for, let alone press for, a public option.

The context here is that we're not discussing what should have been done about the ACA, but rather what the ACA fight tells us about how Obama will deal with a Republican-controlled Congress for two years.

You're right that Lieberman was an obstacle. LBJ would've called Lieberman into his office and given him "the Treatment" to get him on board. Obama, who's temperamentally quite different, refrained from even proposing a public option. That shows us his style in dealing with obstacles, and he'll be dealing with plenty of obstacles beginning next January.

As against that, he does seem to have learned his lesson to some extent. He's given indications of recognizing that there's no point in trying to be reasonable and accommodating with these doctrinaire extremists. His problem is that the time to be more forceful was when Democrats had actual majorities in both chambers. Now, regardless of what tactical choices he makes, he's in a weaker position.

[pnwmom]

36. Lieberman wasn't a Democrat. LBJ didn't have magical powers over non-party members. n/t

[Jim Lane]

37. You're missing the point.

It's about what each President's natural inclination is when dealing with obstacles. LBJ knew how to cut deals but he was also more amenable to confrontation than Obama has been. In particular, LBJ did not act toward Republicans the way Obama has for the last six years.

[pkdu]

27. I see , your glitter- shitting pony is over there .... --------------->

[JDPriestly]

19. Because he doesn't really disagree with it.

And because he is a people-pleaser and doesn't want to be blamed for gridlock.

In contrast, the Republicans, bullies that they are, are proud of being responsible for gridlock.

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. +1.

[Nay]

33. "Because he doesn't really disagree with it." Exactly. Obama is an old-time

Republican. He also wants his post-presidential life to be at least fairly lucrative.

[woo me with science]

32. It would be spun as his "saving" it,

because the version of Chained CPI or whatever passed and signed would be somewhat less vicious than the version that would first be introduced and massively publicized and threatened in the media.

[Blaukraut]

6. You must have had this post in your pipeline for months n/t

[pkdu]

9. wish I could Rec

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

26. Yep

[Orsino]

30. Could have made it at any time in the ladt couple of decades...

...just editing in the part about introducing legislation.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/republicans-poised-to-retain-control-of-senate,37366/

[blkmusclmachine]

11. 2 more years of "bi-partisanship," and you know what THAT means...

[BlindTiresias]

14. That is likely how it will go

You should bookmark this thread for posterity and show it whenever your predictions are verified for the bellicose third way crowd as they further condemn the party to irrelevancy.

[Turbineguy]

16. 731 votes

to repeal Obamacare.

[JDPriestly]

17. You are so clairvoyant! Great post! That's precisely what is in store for us.

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders need to make a deal. They need to have an election analyst use every method in the book to find out which of them will poll the most votes and then agree to support the one of them who is most likely to win the 2016 primary. The Democratic Party needs to shift to the left and confront the absurdity of the Republicans' nonsensical ideas and lies.

Let's have a liberal, progressive platform and liberal, progressive candidates in 2016.

No namby-pamby Clintons or Obama-types. No Thrid-wayers. They do not win. They do not excite voters. They do not even interest voters. And there is no way that the Third-Wayers can color red states blue. No way. They didn't do it this year. They never will do it.

[Eko]

21. Ok, lets get to number 4.

I am curious as to what you think number 4 should be. Do you for an instant think that the GOP wont kill the funding for planned parenthood just for giggles let alone to score a political victory?. What do you think should happen in this scenario?

[cheapdate]

22. I think you have to try to appreciate the difficulty of negotiating with a crazy person.

The "crazy person" being the GOP.

I realize how controversial this might sound, but I think the president has come away from these insane brink-of-disaster negotiations fairly well.

He preserved unemployment benefits for tens of millions of Americans in one round. He won the first income tax increase on top income earners in almost two decades in another.

The stakes are sometimes very high in ways that we don't always think about. The GOP, for instance, was perfectly willing to let the entire funding structure for food assistance collapse earlier this year. Concessions were made. Even Bernie Sanders signed off on the Farm Bill. Not because he's a weak negotiator without a backbone or moral courage, but because the GOP is frickin crazy. They would let millions of vulnerable citizens go hungry without a shred of remorse.

[marions ghost]

28. Agree

we are dealing with a political entity that is insane and has no concern for anyone they hurt.

Democrats think of the whole, want to govern for the good of the whole. Repugs answer to their constituency ONLY.

Until we see that fundamental dichotomy we will never "know the enemy."

[pkdu]

31. Facts and Reason are wasted in the glitter-shitting-pony brigade. Nt

[lonestarnot]

34. Attention Walfart shoppers.