When Harry Met Joe

As time passes, the dirty details and behind the scenes skulduggery of steps to a deal to avert going over the fiscal cliff are beginning to be laid bare.  And some of it is not pretty.

Reid and McConnell were negotiating, when Biden stepped in and replaced Reid in the negotiations:

Reid, the majority leader, had been negotiating and trading ideas with McConnell, his minority counterpart, since Friday evening. But the soft-spoken Nevada Democrat drew a bold line in the sand midday Sunday: He had no more counteroffers to give.

Reid’s office had suggested that another counteroffer would come in the morning, but the clock ticked to afternoon without one. Instead, Reid’s office told McConnell’s at about 1 p.m. that the majority leader was done with the back and forth. “At this stage, we are not able to make a counteroffer,” Reid announced soon after on the Senate floor. Reid was playing hardball. With polls showing that the public was far more likely to blame congressional Republicans than the president if the nation jumped off the fiscal cliff – and billions in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts went into effect – Reid rightfully knew that McConnell wanted a deal – and badly. Suddenly and irreversibly, the talks veered into a new direction. Within minutes, the Kentucky Republican was dialing up Vice President Joe Biden, elevating his old colleague to the Democrats' new negotiator-in-chief. It was the fateful decision that put the Senate and White House on the pathway to the deal eventually approved by the Senate and the House, ending weeks of drama over the fiscal cliff. It also left Reid standing on the sideline stewing. 

The game changed in midstream, and Reid's hardball playing apparently was not appreciated by leadership, even though the path forward Reid was taking was part of the previous marching orders.  The real slap here is that McConnell was allowed to go over Reid's head and get concessions that Reid apparently had rejected, in accordance with the game plan.  Nevertheless, Biden began his victory lap:

For Biden, it was a triumphant moment.  It was major compromise crafted with McConnell, following the two year extension of the Bush Tax cuts in 2010 and the debt limit deal in the summer of 2011.  Biden has earned the nickname "the McConnell whisperer" across Washington. 

I could get a dog to obey me just as well as the "dog whisperer" if I'm standing there with a t-bone steak in my hand:

The final package, which cleared the Senate in the early hours of 2013, also included concessions that Reid had refused, including a delay of the automatic cuts, known as the sequester, for only two months instead of at least a year.

Giving out goodies like this, of course the deal got done.  McConnell was at the end of his rope and desperate for a deal, since he knew polls showed all the blame was going to the republicans.    This concession is key though, because it puts the sequester right around the time the debt ceiling will need to be raised.

Biden has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2016, so this deal would be a good notch on his belt to have going in.  Getting deals done for the sake of the deal may fit the purpose of those making them, but they miss the larger point -- there are real people outside of Washington affected by all of this.

Sen. Tom Harkin, who voted "no," put it all in perspective with a speech in the Senate that laid bare the gist of all this horsetrading: cutting benefits and raising taxes of the working and middle classes, to pay for more breaks and giveaways for the wealthy.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, one of the eight no votes, has been one of the few to speak out publicly against the concessions that Democrats made to strike a compromise.  He complained that the administration traded permanent GOP-friendly tax policy -- the extension of tax rates for those below $450,000 for temporary Democratic priorities.  "In essence, this agreement locks in a tax structure that is grossly unfair to middle-class Americans," Harkin said in statement after the vote.