one point there was a math difference. the president said i m i m agreeing to $1.7 trillion worth of cuts. eric cantor said mr. president, it will have to be $2.4 trillion if we want to go dollar for dollar and tempers and nostrils were starting to flare. next thing you know, eric cantor said if we re not going to come to a deal, we might have to have a short term deal to get us through. unfortunately for the president, though, if they did do a short-term deal, it would expire. they would have to vote on another debt limit crisis before the next election which is the last thing barack obama wants. he doesn t want to go through this again. he said look, if we can t do this now, we won t be able to do it next year. he said don t call my bluff, eric. i m not afraid to veto it and i ll take it to the american people. this may bring down my presidency but i will not yield on this. enough is enough, we have to be willing to compromise. it shouldn t be about positioning and politics and i