Republican support in the house for his plan the proposal on the fiscal cliff has embarrassed the speaker, but the spekers failure means a solution to the fiscal cliff is, if theyre going to be one, now restng squarely upon preident obama. Arsine to be vacationing president alone cannot propose legislation that wins majority support in both the house and senate, and the decision to go over the fiscal cliff now depends on his ability to successfully negoate and to forge a compromise that appeals to both republins and the far left in mr. Obamas party. The president met with Senate Majority leader harry reid this afternoon and talked with Speaker Boehner to begin anew that effort to reach compromise. Averting this middleclass tax hike is not a democratic responsibility or republican responsibility. With their foes the ameran people have determined that governing is a shared responsibility between both parties in this Congress Laws can only pass with support from democrats and republicans,