Why Democrats Are Willing To Compromise On $250,000

Jonathan Chait is one of the smartest explicators, defenders, and exponents of the Obama administration's domestic policies so when he says the White House has lost the plot by repeatedly indicating a willingness to agree to a top marginal income tax threshold higher than $250,000 it gets my attention. But in this case I think he's misreading what's happening. Ever since Election Day, Obama has consistently and rightly taken the view that the baseline against which he judges a deal is a scenario in which we go "over the cliff" and then pressure mounts on Republicans to agree to the "Obama tax cuts" restoring Bush-era rates on income below $250,000. That raises about $800 billion, and as Obama told John Boehner he gets it for free. But Obama's always wanted more than what he can get for free. So during the Grand Bargain talks with Boehner he was willing to make conside...