I'd Like to Be a Fly On the Wall for This Meeting

The GOP leadership and Obama will get together today to talk about governing - either together or separately:

Republican congressional leaders sent out mixed signals ahead of their first meeting with President Obama since the party's Election Day triumph, appealing for cooperation while at the same time threatening to take matters into their own hands if they don't get their way on tax cuts.

The looming expiration of the Bush tax cuts is expected to take centerstage when the president sits down with Republican and Democratic congressional chiefs Tuesday morning. Other issues ranging from an arms reduction treaty with Russia to long-term jobless benefits are facing Congress in the lame-duck session, but the tax debate has dominated for months.

Both sides agree that the middle class should not see their taxes increase, but they diverge over whether taxes on the wealthy should revert back to higher rates -- Republicans don't want a tax hike for anybody, while Democrats want the top tier of earners to pay more.

House Republican Leader John Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, in a joint Washington Post column published Tuesday, urged Democrats to turn away from pushing "controversial items" like immigration legislation and focus on job creation. As an incentive, they dangled the prospect of a cooperative Congress before the president.

Vowing that both sides "can work together," Boehner and McConnell said that if Obama and his Democratic colleagues offer a plan to cut spending "and stop the tax hikes," Republicans will be on their side. However, they warned, "House and Senate Republicans will work to get the job done in the new Congress" if Democrats don't act.

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., assumed a tougher tone, telling Fox News on Monday that Republicans would push a bill to "retroactively ensure no one gets a tax hike" come January if the president doesn't play along.

Attitude will be everything in this meeting. When Obama first won the presidency his attitude toward the GOP was that of an arrogant victor who couldn't wait to show off his new power. The GOP shouldn't imitate his style, but should calmly and confidently explain that issue number one has to be the pending tax hikes, followed by job creation. Chasing a bunch of liberal wish list items like immigration amnesty, card check for unions, cap-and-trade, etc., are non-starters. If Obama can't rein in Pelosi and Reid he's going to have a very bad start to the new year.

Together Obama and the GOP have got to take some of the uncertainty out of the economy so businesses will feel more confident about hiring and expanding their operations. They won't do that as long as there's so much uncertainly about future taxes and expenses related to Obamacare.

Unfortunately, I don't think Obama can control himself let alone Reid and Pelosi, and given his general arrogance, it's likely to be a pretty testy and ultimately meaningless meeting.