Noam Scheiber says President Obama should let Republicans takes us over the fiscal cliff.

“They will see that they have been completely repudiated by the public in a way that even the election didn’t impress on them. It will, in other words, be as close as you get in politics to a total victory for one side. It will highlight the perils of following one’s base too slavishly, a lesson that will come in handy not just on future fiscal policy fights (there will in all likelihood still be a debt ceiling to raise next year), but, one can imagine, also on an issue like immigration. Which is to say, it’s only by forcing the GOP off the cliff that Obama will find the space he needs to govern.”

Andrew Sullivan: “Unless his strategy permanently embitters them and prompts them to use the debt ceiling – once again – as a cudgel.”

“The president and his allies have taken so many things off the table
the only thing left is the varnish.”

— Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by The Hill, on the fiscal cliff negotiations.

House Republican leaders warned their members they may have to return to Washington after Christmas, claiming that “serious differences” remained in negotiations to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” according to The Hill.

Meanwhile, TPM reports that Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) thinks House Speaker John Boehner may be waiting until he’s re-elected Speaker when he’ll have greater flexibility to cut a deal.

Said Van Hollen: “I’m getting increasingly concerned that one of the reasons the Speaker is deciding to, I think, string out these discussions is that he wants to wait til January 3 when the election for Speaker takes place and he’s concerned that any agreement he reaches if it violated the so-called Hastert Rule could undermine support for him in his caucus and make it more difficult on January 3.”

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds President Obama holds a substantial advantage over House Speaker John Boehner in handling budget negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff: Nearly twice as many Americans approve of the president’s work on the issue so far as favor the speaker’s approach.

Meanwhile, a new Bloomberg poll finds Obama has won the public argument over taxes so decisively that almost half of Republicans now say he has an election mandate to raise rates on the rich.

New York Times: “With negotiations quickening on Tuesday to prevent a year-end fiscal crisis, White House officials once again are confronting a vexing question: Can Speaker John Boehner deliver enough Republican votes for whatever deficit-reduction plan he and President Obama might decide?”

“Eighteen months ago the White House was forced to answer in the negative after secret negotiations between the two leaders collapsed once word leaked of their tentative deal, with its proposed revenue increases. But once again, Mr. Obama must put his fate in Mr. Boehner’s hands on the issue that will help define the president’s second term, and his legacy.”

“I’m pretty confident that Republicans would not hold middle class taxes
hostage to trying to protect tax cuts for high-income individuals.”

— President Obama, in an interview with ABC News, on the fiscal cliff negotiations.