The Washington Post also has more backbiting among the Democrats, courtesy of reporter Paul Kane. The way the fiscal cliff ended in early 2013 apparently left a lot of bad blood, because Senate Democrats wanted to hold out for bigger tax increases. According to Kane’s account, though, the taxers ought to be madder at Harry Reid than the president.
Many Democrats figured that once the cliff had been jumped [that is, once taxes automatically rose for everyone on the expiration of the Bush tax cuts–RP], all the leverage would be in their hands and they could extract even deeper concessions from Republicans, particularly on across-the-board spending cuts that they wanted to nix.
Reid and McConnell engaged in some brief talks — talks that included a key mistake by Democrats: They made an offer on the tax levels, and Republicans actually accepted it. There were other key issues to resolve, but once that central issue was settled, the momentum headed toward resolution.
At that point, McConnell called Biden and famously asked: “Does anyone down there know how to make a deal?”
Reid, Schumer and other leaders and their advisers then waited to see the final details, furious that the deal was being made.
So: Reid, Schumer, et al. wanted to raise middle-class taxes to improve their position, negotiated in bad faith, and had their bluff called. Not easy to summon up much pity for them.