Much of the debate about the deal cut between the White House and Republicans is focused on what could or could not get done, and the notion that the president got the best deal he could get given the circumstances. I think there is still a legitimate point to be made that even given the circumstances–Republicans willing to fuck the entire country if they didn’t get the tax breaks for the richest one percent, the deficit be damned (and, as a reminder, I don’t buy the deficit "crisis" nonsense)–the president could have pushed this further.

   But, that isn’t the point.

   The expiration of these tax breaks was something he, and the rest of the Democratic Party, KNEW was coming from the first day he took office.

   We also knew back then that those tax breaks were a leading reason–along with the immoral Iraq and Afghanistan wars–for the waste of trillions of dollars over the past decade.

   So, a reasonable person could ask: why did you not take that on from the get-go when you are riding high? Why not take that mandate then, when you had the attention of the people (in a good way) and say, "today, we are taking a first step towards ending class warfare in America".

   Where was the strategy?

   The answer: there was no strategy, either because of incompetence of neglect or indifference.