Krugman is the sort of liberal who's never been happy with Obama no matter what, short of him storming Congress and coming out with Boehner and McConnell's heads on his pike. The knee-jerk ideologue sort.

Until otherwise proven wrong, I'll stick by my pet theory that the President decided to make as good of a serious compromise deal with the idea that the details (i.e. raising taxes) would keep the House GOP from passing it (Which so far is proven to be true today) and be stuck as an even bigger loser in the public sphere than they would if that last minute compromise hadn't been hashed out.

If this poison pill didn't do that job, then well at least the White House can fly the PR victory flag of saving America from the Crisis and continue this fight for another day. Not a Grand Bargain as much as using up leverage to hopefully win either the short, or long game. (Of course I do agree with the POV that this is more a Curb than an actual Cliff but nevermind.)

If the House GOP did pass this but with amendments, which would mean the Senate would have to approve that new version, quite frankly if I'm the Democrats I would tell them to drop dead. Pass this bi-partisan bill, the one sanctioned by your party's Senate leader and 30+ GOP votes, that we passed last night or no deal, and we start all over in 2 days. Oh and the Fiscal Cliff will not be averted. And all the Bush Tax Cuts would go bye bye. And you get stuck with the blame. We've done our part, now do yours.

Some locals whined at me earlier for playing this partisan game (just like their representatives), but here's a honest assessment: Do the GOP want their shit sandwich with bread or not? This is why Lindsey Graham implored his colleagues in the House to hold their nose and pass the thing, fight to live another day. He wants bread.

Of course this pet theory is contingent on that no matter what, the Democrats don't reconvene the Senate tonight or tomorrow and tell the House GOP to choke it or be dismissed as the extremists who just screwed the nation in this crisis. If the Dems "cave" again (or for real this time), then Krugman might have a point.