Everyone has seen them. You're walking through the grocery store, and a harried mother grimaces as her children pester he to buy the latest sweetened cereal. She ignores them for a while, as their nagging gets more and more shrill. Then she cajoles them, and eventually threatens them with the wrath of their father. All the while, the children get louder and louder, and finally start screaming "I WANT MY SUGAR TREATS". You maneuver your shopping cart into another aisle to avoid the drama. Later, you see them in the check-out aisle, with the children quiet, the mother more haggard, and the biggest box of Sugar Treats cereal in the shopping cart.
My children never did that to my wife and I. Which leads me to how to deal with today's Republicans.
The reason my children never behaved this way is that my wife and I had one basic rule "Never give in". My kids tried that stunt - every child does it. My wife and I decided that when one of us said "No", that was the final answer. My kids might try to beg, plead, or throw a temper tantrum to get their way, but they quickly learned that it didn't matter how many times they asked. The answer was still "No". They also learned that throwing a tantrum led to extrachores or time out. So long as we never gave in, they quickly learned not to ask more than once, and not to get mad about the answer. The harried mom in the store gave in, and taught her children that whining and bad behavior works. In fact, the longer she held out before giving in, the more outrageous her children's behavior became.
Today's Republican Party is like the children in that shopping cart. They have been demanding their Sugar Treats - no public option, tax cuts for millionaires. They've been throwing their temper tantrums, like Jim DeMint claiming that health care would be Obama's Waterloo, or Mitch McConnell threatening to stop all Senate business until the rich get their tax cuts. The mistake Obama has made is that he has given in to childish tantrums.
Instead, when Mitch McConnell threatened to stop the Senate, Obama should have said "I will veto any tax cut bill that includes tax breaks for millionaires." and should have kept that promise. We might not have gotten any tax cuts, or unemployment insurance extensions before the end of the year, but could the Republicans have held out against the American people's anger forever?
By compromising now, and giving in to the Republican's tantrums, Obama has taught them that they are in control, not him. He has simply emboldened them to try more bad behavior, because bad behavior works. And trust me, from my wife's day care experience, it's a lot easier to bring up kids right from the start than it is to bring a spoiled brat under control.