of americans yesterday, hey, we re going to get this thing done. i feel good about it. i love that he agreed to sit down with john boehner one on one. richard, you ve done negotiations on all levels. i really liked the tone the president was sending. and by the way, i felt like charles krauthammer did a couple of days ago. because the president seemed to be saying and you ve said it, too, along with geithner we won. the other side s going to cave. the president s changing his tone, and i think that is great not only for the american people, i think it s great for the president. i think you re right. there s a sense that people have once again remembered the basic rule of negotiation. in a funny sort of way, you ve got to help the guy you re negotiating with because you need a partner to succeed. you re seeing a little bit of that creep into this. but the big question s going to be one you just raised, which is entitlements because you can t get there with discretionary spending.
either way, the republican house would be neutered, giving obama a free hand to dominate washington and fashion the entitlement state of his liking. what should republicans do? stop giving stuff away. if obama remains intransigent, let him be the one to take us over the cliff, and then let the new house, which is sworn in weeks before the president, immediately introduce and pass a full across-the-board restoration of the george w. bush tax cuts. so i don t think that s inconsistent with anything that i just said. i agree with him 100%. what have i been saying for a week? do not cave. compromise. do not cave. if the president doesn t want to meet us halfway on massive entitlement cuts, on reforming those systems to save medicare and medicaid, social security, cutting defense, reforming the taxes, then do not meet if he doesn t want to meet halfway, but i ve got to tell you, i am heartened with what i saw in the president s tone yesterday. i loved hearing him tell a group