Gallup: Obama's job approval tumbles

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sure, let's blame the guy who has no control in letting legislation get through and is actually willing to compromise.

I swear, politics here is making me incredibly cynical.

Obama has some responsibility for this situation. He should have made getting rid of the sequester a precondition for a fiscal cliff deal back in December. He had a much better hand back then and could have forced the Republicans into a much better deal than whatever comes now if a deal is reached. And even if that failed, I would rather have gone over the cliff (which would have led to higher taxes for the wealthy) than fix the revenue part of it without addressing the cuts, like the democrats did.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sure, let's blame the guy who has no control in letting legislation get through and is actually willing to compromise.

I swear, politics here is making me incredibly cynical.

Who's willing to compromise?  I haven't seen anyone put forward a compromise.  Obama is insisting on a tax hike and the GOP is insisting on using only spending cuts.

You say it as if the two positions were equally sound. In fact there is one that is perfectly sound and another that is pure insanity.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sure, let's blame the guy who has no control in letting legislation get through and is actually willing to compromise.

I swear, politics here is making me incredibly cynical.

Who's willing to compromise?  I haven't seen anyone put forward a compromise.  Obama is insisting on a tax hike and the GOP is insisting on using only spending cuts.

You say it as if the two positions were equally sound. In fact there is one that is perfectly sound and another that is pure insanity.

The economic impact of only spending cuts vs.a mixture of tax hikes and spending cuts that both result in the same amount of deficit reduction is about the same.  Both will decrease the flow of money through the economy.  One can argue that this isn't a good time to be pursing deficit reduction, but that's not even being discussed right now.

Sure, slightly raising the insignificant amount of the wealth the super-rich pay has the same impact as slaughtering social programs upon which millions of people live and which which actually have a social utility.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sure, let's blame the guy who has no control in letting legislation get through and is actually willing to compromise.

I swear, politics here is making me incredibly cynical.

Obama has some responsibility for this situation. He should have made getting rid of the sequester a precondition for a fiscal cliff deal back in December. He had a much better hand back then and could have forced the Republicans into a much better deal than whatever comes now if a deal is reached. And even if that failed, I would rather have gone over the cliff (which would have led to higher taxes for the wealthy) than fix the revenue part of it without addressing the cuts, like the democrats did.

How would he have made getting rid of the sequester a precondition for a fiscal cliff deal when he supported the sequester when it was created in 2011?

Obama never supported the sequester. It just turned out to be the only way to get Republicans to raise the debt ceiling. If the house GOP didn't engage in constant blackmailing, none of these "fiscal crises" would have ever happened.