Fold-O-Rama

But of course this was destined to happen.  Actually winning Washington fights is hard and gets you killed in elections, that's the only lesson you need to know as a Democrat.  Better to not even try.

President Barack Obama's top adviser suggested to The Huffington Post late Wednesday that the administration is ready to accept an across-the-board, temporary continuation of steep Bush-era tax cuts, including those for the wealthiest taxpayers.


That appears to be the only way, said David Axelrod, that middle-class taxpayers can keep their tax cuts, given the legislative and political realities facing Obama in the aftermath of last week's electoral defeat.

"We have to deal with the world as we find it," Axelrod said during an unusually candid and reflective 90-minute interview in his office, steps away from the Oval Office. "The world of what it takes to get this done."

"There are concerns," he added, that Congress will continue to kick the can down the road in the future by passing temporary extensions for the wealthy time and time again. "But I don't want to trade away security for the middle class in order to make that point."

It has been widely assumed that the president would have to accept an across-the-board deal of some kind, but Axelrod's remarks were the first public confirmation of that fact -- and by a figure regarded as closer to Obama than any other White House staffer.

And what does the Obama administration get in return for this maneuver?   I'm sure Darrell Issa will send them an iTunes gift card so that White House staffers have some music to listen to while they're waiting to testify before Issa's Oversight commission for the sixth or seventh time.

It also means that the White House has been given advance notice on the $680 billion in social spending cuts Republicans will demand -- and certainly get -- to offset the continued tax cuts for the top 2%.

I'm betting the Republicans get at least another ten years out of these, but if they were smart, they'd make it two and play this game all over again in 2012, knowing they can't lose because the Dems will absolutely cave again.  Then they can run on "unless you elect Republicans, Obama will raise your taxes!" again.  Worked great for them so far, even though the Republicans are the ones who designed the measure to expire.

Anyone actually surprised by this hasn't been paying attention to the last, oh, 30 years in national politics.