Obama - Over the Cliff We Should Go?

How else to explain his bizarre "news conference".  News conference?  At a news conference the press asks questions.  This was more like a campaign event...something this president is pretty good at as long as He has his prompter, which He didn't have today.  It's not a campaign event.  I mean he's not running for office; But more on that later.  Why would He, as delicate negotiations were being concluded, mock and chide the Republicans?  There are a few goals, not necessarily mutually exclusive, He may be attempting to accomplish:

1. He was trying to sabotage the talks.  This is the most obvious one.  If so, this is not about doing what's right for the country.  This is about taking advantage of His strong political position to further damage the Republican Party.  Krauthammer says this is short-term oriented but I think not.  Going over the cliff and being able to put the blame on the Republicans will come in handy in a couple of years....say November of 2014.  The country could be forced into another recession for which the Republicans would be blamed which could go a long way to getting Democratic control of the House and extending their control of the Senate.  At which point He'll have two years to implement his far left agenda.  Hey, at that point maybe He could get the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution repealed?

2. There was some trouble in the Democratic ranks and Joe Biden needed some help.  So the President came before the people to give us an update on the progress and managed to buck up his side by assuring them that this was just the beginning of the tax increases.  He promised there would be more to offset the sequestration cuts and help offset or reduce the cuts needed from Medicare and/or Social Security.

3.  The news conference with no questions also made life more difficult for Senate Minority Leader McConnell and Speaker Boehner as it revealed to their rank and file that more tax increases were coming.  But with the Republicans reeling from the election loss and the multiple self-inflicted wounds leading up to today what else can they do?  Vote down the legislation and lead the country over the fiscal cliff?  See part 1 above.

Finally, I don't use pejoratives when discussing the President of the United States so I'm not going say that this guy is a real jerk.  I will also refrain from calling Him an arrogant asshole.  But I will say that as long as I've followed politics I've never seen a president act in as unprofessional manner as this guy.  He is, without doubt, the most duplicitous and rude president of my lifetime.  But unlike Bill Clinton, He is faithful to His wife.  And that is a good thing.