How could Senate Democrats have the upperhand in the brinkmanship with the GOP over Bush tax cuts? (Not that they are willing, but that's a separate failure in the Party...).
Three words: the estate tax
Of course, one has to bet that this fails:
If their goal is to recapture the Presidency, then the rational course for them is to regard the American economy in the same way that General Sherman regarded the Confederate economy. They should aim at destruction and ruin. The lesson here is not peculiar to the Republicans. In a divided government in which the other party holds the presidency, the American people are functional masochists: they will reward you with office if you beat them. Hard.
Actually, I think the truth of this is the opposite. In a game of brinkmanship, well played, it is always the Chief Executive that wins. He's the one that the people rally around. Sad, but true.
Someone needs to tell the Democratic leadership that, if they don't hang together, they surely will hang separately. Why, Krauthammer is already talking about an "operational majority" in the Senate for the GOP-tea.
