It's so stupid and wrong that we're talking about deficits 10 years from now when we have some rather immediate problems that require spending money now (unemployment, Sandy). But at least the Obama offer did have some spending now.
It's also good that, aside from the entire frame, it's a pretty good democratic offer. For all I know precompromising is genuinely an 11 dimensional chess way of achieving better policy outcomes. If so (I suspect not, but what do I know), then fine, but it does make it a bit harder to establish a Team D or a Team O brand. We had 4 years of "why don't we all agree that this is a nice compromise" instead of "this is what we want, your turn."
It also made it hard to establish a Team R brand, letting them get away with wanting to destroy the government AND be the Last Great And True Defenders Of Medicare.
