Armando points out that Michael Corleone refused to negotiate with a corrput gaming commissioner,
offering him nothing in return for everything. But there is another aspect to Corleone's hardball negotiating toughness: he
demanded more when he didn't get his way initially:
Later in the movie, Geary is seen serving on a Senate committee that is investigating organized crime, and which could potentially send Michael to prison. He asks Corleone soldato Willie Cicci about the layers of management ("buffers") which protect Michael from direct criminal involvement. Later, on the day of Michael's testimony, Geary speaks in defense of Italian-Americans to the assembled television cameras, denouncing the stereotyping of them as criminals.
Corleone not only got his gaming license on his terms, he got the Senator's public support at a key moment. Corleone
jammed him. Should the president not get his deal before the end of the year, he might consider jamming John Boehner as well. How?
By attaching a middle class tax cut to raising the debt ceiling and then ramming it through the Senate. It would be an act of extraordinary moxie and hard as fricking nails negotiating. It would literally turn the entire world against House Republicans.
Now I'm sure the president doesn't want to go down this road. He wants to start the new year off with something pleasant and positive, like immigration reform. But make no mistake: if John Boehner will not yield on taxes and bring enough Republicans with him, President Obama will find himself in a position so commanding it would be political malpractice to do anything but demand unconditional surrender.