This is vendetta. Obama and Reid will accept nothing out of the House that makes the Republicans look like any part of a solution, and they are working very hard to make sure that the next few years can be blamed on someone besides Obama again.

It's ironic that the Democrats are fighting like hell to protect the middle class against Clinton's tax rates.

Do they even understand how much of their own political mythology they're burning down? The taxes that Democrats touted for years as responsible for the prosperity and surpluses back then are now perceived as a complete disaster. And the Republicans who created the current rates ("My2K") over fierce Democratic opposition, and wanted to make the current rates permanent multiple times (again blocked by the Democrats) are now perceived as the only reason these wonderful tax rates are going away.

Congratulations to the Democratic leadership. This is almost a work of art.