Barack Obama

many here at DU are not looking for answers because for anyone paying attention, they are all there ...

Because it furthers the narrative that President Obama (and his team of advisors) have been carefully building ... THAT THE GOP IS UNWILLING TO COMPROMISE. And it's working ... as evidenced by the polling data, i.e., a plurality of independent voters and gop voters (a solid majority when combined) tag the gop as the party unwilling to compromise.



Because this is politics ... But more, there is no chance of SS being cut ... The Left won't allow it; republicans with seniors in their district won't allow it; the President won't allow it without significant revenue increases (which republicans won't give).



Nope ... At this point, the Democratic legislators (in safe districts) are vowing to fight the CCPI; the one's in close contests are saying, "I'm open to looking at this CCPI thing, if the gop is willing to move on revenue" (again, a safe position because the gop can't/won't move on revenue without encouraging a primary challenge).



See above.



Nope. It will drive down "progressive" support, if DU is any indicator; but "progressives" make a very small, albeit loud, part of the Democratic party ... the party that they do not claim. The Democratic turn-out will be about the same as the 2012 election (probably slightly less because it's a mid-term election and "progressives" might be able to pile off a sliver of Democratic voters).

But, because of gerrymandering (after the 2010 "we're gonna teach them a lesson" exercise), we need the above-mentioned Independents and gop voters to either vote Democratic (not likely), or vote 3rd-Party, or stay home; far more than we need those "progressive" that would even consider staying at home (to re-teach the 2010 lesson).

I could, and probably will, post more on this topic.