President Obama learned some hard lessons during last year's debt ceiling talks, and he's heading into the new round to avoid the fiscal cliff determined to take his case to the people. Rather than "hunkering down" with congressional leaders behind closed doors for weeks—a strategy that damaged him in 2011—aides tell the New York Times that Obama will travel outside of DC in an effort to ramp up public support for his plan, which combines spending cuts with higher taxes on the rich, with the ultimate goal of breaking through DC's partisan gridlock. (John Boehner seems like he might be agreeable to that.)
Talks are scheduled to begin Friday, but Obama will meet with corporate executives on Wednesday in an effort to regain support in the business world, and will take his case to the public sometime after Thanksgiving. Many business leaders are looking for a budget compromise similar to what Obama favors, and the president thinks he can use them to convince congressional Republicans to see things his way. Both the Times and Bloomberg note that on yesterday's talk shows, Republican lawmakers voiced a newfound openness to working with Obama, even including the possibility of raising taxes without actually increasing tax rates for the wealthy. Indeed, Bloomberg reports, leaders from both parties see an end to the standoff on the horizon. (For more, Politico has five possible fiscal cliff scenarios.)
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