The two key ingredients of this negotiation are taxes and the debt limit. Obama doesn't need to negotiate these with the Republicans.

Those are the key issues from the Democrats side. On the GOP side it's spending cuts. I suppose Obama can refuse to negotiate, but he'll take everyone over the cliff if he does. At least he'll have his tax increases on the rich along with everyone else. He'll need the additional short term revenue to deal with a tanking economy if that happens.


Grape