Neil Macdonald: How compromise became a dirty word in Washington
For example, in the case of the debt-ceiling debate, Ornstein and Mann point out that as the deadline approached, the Republican leadership endorsed a bipartisan proposal for a deficit-reduction task force with teeth.
Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. (American Enterprise Institute)"This plan would force us to get debt and spending under control," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell declared on the Senate floor. "It deserves support from both sides of the aisle."
But when the committee's plan came up for a vote some time later, Republicans filibustered and killed the resolution.
Why? "Because President Barack Obama was for it," write Ornstein and Mann, "and its passage might gain him political credit."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/05/24/f-rfa-macdonald-republicans.html