The President and his advisors may have just made a major mistake in the fiscal cliff and debt ceiling negotiations. In fact, they may have just saved the Republican's bacon.
Obama's "Plan B," the stripped down version he's pushing now, has nothing in it the GOP can't vote against. Oh, some wheeling and dealing might be done which allows them to kick the ball on into next year, but adding in his insistence upon passing some kind of gun legislation immediately has given the GOP leverage they didn't have earlier this week.
By making gun legislation a signature item, attaching his name to it and demanding it be done forthwith, he's handed the GOP a weapon they can beat him to death with. Resisting gun legislation is a no-brainer for the GOP and they lose nothing by refusing to even consider it. Not only that, but they can harvest enormous amounts of political hay because it seems to prove what the Nutter's have been saying all along: "Obama's coming to get your guns!"
Whether or not that's true, it DOES put the House into the position of basically saying, "You want a gun bill? Fine, we'll pass something...BUT you'd better back off on taxing the rich and you'd better offer up some serious budget cuts or your gun bill dies right here." They have nothing to lose and much to gain by holding that position.
Obama never has been a really strong leader and he's not always gotten good political advice from his inner circle. That seems to be the case now and he might have just punked his own hand.
Obama's "Plan B," the stripped down version he's pushing now, has nothing in it the GOP can't vote against. Oh, some wheeling and dealing might be done which allows them to kick the ball on into next year, but adding in his insistence upon passing some kind of gun legislation immediately has given the GOP leverage they didn't have earlier this week.
By making gun legislation a signature item, attaching his name to it and demanding it be done forthwith, he's handed the GOP a weapon they can beat him to death with. Resisting gun legislation is a no-brainer for the GOP and they lose nothing by refusing to even consider it. Not only that, but they can harvest enormous amounts of political hay because it seems to prove what the Nutter's have been saying all along: "Obama's coming to get your guns!"
Whether or not that's true, it DOES put the House into the position of basically saying, "You want a gun bill? Fine, we'll pass something...BUT you'd better back off on taxing the rich and you'd better offer up some serious budget cuts or your gun bill dies right here." They have nothing to lose and much to gain by holding that position.
Obama never has been a really strong leader and he's not always gotten good political advice from his inner circle. That seems to be the case now and he might have just punked his own hand.