C-SPAN has a video of President Obama’s Press Converence about his caving to Republican demands for tax cuts for the wealthy.

I watched a good bit of it, but after a while, I couldn’t take any more of it.  He just couldn’t get the concept that every time he is in a negotiation, the Republicans have him accurately pegged.  He thinks this situation is unique, but the Republicans know how to make every situation like this one.  Why wouldn’t the Republicans do this?  It has been such a successful strategy for them.

If the President could only stonewall the Republicans as well as he stonewall’s the press in this press conference, he would be doing much better in his Presidency by now.

The President seems to find it much easier to give in to his adversaries than he finds sticking with his constituency.  He’ll stonewall us, but give in to the opposition.  Would it help if we became his opposition?  I am ready to try that approach now.  It doesn’t seem like he could be much weaker.

When you see a tug-of-war where one side is constantly giving up a foot and taking back six inches, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion as to where the flag is going to end up.

The President is supposed to be a Constitutional scholar.  Perhaps he needs to go back and study the power of the threat of a veto, let alone an actual veto.  Maybe the veto occurs when the bill goes past your absolute limit.  He doesn’t seem to realize that the threat of the veto has to come with a large margin of safety.  The Republicans know how to use the filibuster.  Why can’t he observe and learn?  He seems to observe and give up.

Is it time to consider the President’s action may come under Greenberg’s Law of Counter-productive Behavior?

If you see a behavior that seems to you to be counterproductive, perhaps you have misunderstood what the actor was trying to produce.