@joefromchicago,
We should keep in mind that the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the sequester are two entirely different things, and are only linked because the tax cuts expire at the same time that the sequester takes effect. The tax cuts are part of the bargain because Democrats don't want the large entitlement cuts in the sequester, while Republicans expect concessions on the tax cuts as the price for easing up on the entitlement cuts.
But the sequester was designed to be unpalatable to
both sides -- Democrats didn't like the entitlement cuts, while Republicans didn't like the defense cuts. If it weren't for the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, the two sides would be negotiating solely over the sequester. Indeed, that was the whole point of the sequester. Throwing the tax cuts into the mix simply gave the GOP leverage on an issue over which it shouldn't have had any leverage at all. Now the GOP can wring concessions from the Democrats on taxes by threatening to scuttle any compromise on the sequester -- even though, as explained before, those two things aren't connected (the debt ceiling, meanwhile, isn't connected to
anything, including reality), and even though a failure to reach a deal on the sequester should be just as painful to the GOP as to the Democrats.
But the bigger picture is this: the fact that everyone is talking about a deficit deal is a huge concession to the GOP. Realistically, nobody should be concerned about the deficit at all -- not when creditors are effectively paying the US to lend it money. That we have even gotten to the point of talking seriously about deficit reduction in the midst of a very tentative recovery from a worldwide recession is a Republican victory, and the fact that Obama and the Democrats don't seem to realize that certainly does them no credit.
