Guy's intriguing post below offers an interesting option for the GOP in the fiscal cliff talks: Embrace Simpson-Bowles.
But I think another element aside from a "constructive alternative" is missing from the Hill Republicans' psyches (and thus playbooks).
That is the realization that, whether or not Obama blames the GOP in the short term for taking us over the cliff, in the end, he's the President. He's the one who's supposed to be representing all of us -- yes, even the evil rich and those who didn't vote for him. If he doesn't negotiate seriously about the cliff and we all go over, he and the MSM will try hard to blame the GOP. But here are three pieces of reality: (1) It's Obama's legacy -- not the GOP's -- that will be of total economic failure; (2) it's Obama's legacy -- not the GOP's -- that will be stymied over the next four years if there's another recession; and (3) however angry people are at the GOP throughout 2013, they won't be much happier with Democrats (or the President) in 2014 if their economic situations are bad.
Don't forget that all the ObamaCare taxes kick in next year, too -- and it's impossible for the President to blame Republicans' for that.
In the awful circumstance that we head over the cliff, the Republicans should point out endlessly that the President has failed to support a "balanced approach" -- he wants all new taxes, all new spending, and no spending or entitlement reform whatsoever. In the end, an entitlement system that goes bust will hurt the rich, of course, but the people who will really be hammered are the middle class and the poor. ANd those are the futures the President is throwing away.
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Again, for the record: Boehner has offered to raise revenues to solve the crisis. We are at an impasse because (a) the President can't or won't negotiate in good faith; and (2) he insists that new revenues must come from higher tax rates so that he can prove to his base that he has "punished" the rich.
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