This has all the appearance of a Mexicanstandoff, where both sides are lined up facing each other but neither wants to shoot first for fear of being shot in return.
And the President -- look, if we had 5 percent growth and unemployment was dropping like a rock, maybe you could have a so-called Mexicanstandoff, and you could say, it will be you, not me, the voters will hold responsible for raising taxes on middle-class people if they all go down next year.