Hard left won't compromise on taxes

Is this a problem?  Only if you are a squishy Republican.  Let the hard left have its way.  Don't compromise and make it stick.  You might lose, or you might win.  It is risky, but why play it safe?  You have nothing to lose now.

The left is not so friendly and caring to ordinary folks as they pretend to be:

Two days after the election, Obama's favorite economist, Paul Krugman, set the tone for the intransigent left in a column titled: "Let's not make a deal." Boiled down, his advice to Obama was this: Don't give in to any Republican demands, even if doing so would "inflict damage on a still-shaky economy." After all, Obama would be better positioned to "weather any blowback from economic troubles."[ emphasis added]

The IBD had a take on the election which I don't necessarily agree with:

But the public also kept the GOP in control of Congress, sending a clear message that they want both sides to strike a deal.

Why can't the election be seen as a vote for gridlock?  Who cares if the country goes over the fiscal cliff?  The presumption is that we need the spending.  What if the reduced spending and higher taxes actually help the economy?

Update:

It is rather sickening to read how the government wants to change the deal that they made to reduce the deficit less than a year and a half ago.  That's what the "fiscal cliff" actually is.  It is their deal, and now it is a bad thing that must be changed.  Before, it was the deficit that was the bad thing.  Now it is the fiscal cliff that's the bad thing.

a pileup of scheduled tax increases and spending cuts that threaten to drain $560 billion out of the economy next year and derail the recovery

The "pileup" was a negotiated deal to do something about the deficit.  Anybody care to remember that?

 As I read it, it looks like manipulation to get the tax increases the left wants.  They cite opinion polls as evidence that the Republicans should compromise.  But wait.  Despite having a low approval rating, the Congressional political makeup remained the same.  So, which polls matter more?  The ones that the media cites, or the ones that actually got these people their jobs?  The relevant quote below:

Two in three of those surveyed in a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll during the past week want the two sides to split their differences, 45% want an equal division between tax increases and spending cuts, 30% want mostly spending cuts and only 10% oppose tax increases altogether. One in three expect negotiations to fail and the economy to tumble over the fiscal cliff.

The first scenario is the most desirable.  That scenario, as pointed out in the article, will not be the disaster it is being hyped to be.  Growth will return by the end of the year, according to the article.  But the recession will be blamed on going over the "fiscal cliff".  That's how it is being reported, anyhow.