I think that we're going to find out very soon how likely compromise is. It's pretty clear to me from his victory speech that Obama is returning with a renewed spirit of compromise, -the question is if the Tea-Party backed new (well, two years old now) Republican House is ready to play ball.

I think that the Republican leadership has to choose their strategy now, and figure out if they want to become pragmatic again, or if they are going to double down on fighting the President on almost every single bit of legislation without compromise. I think Original Romney could have easily have beaten Obama if he didn't have go through the Kafkan Metamorphosis of the Republican primary. He could have sold himself as a pragmatic moderate Conservative that could run a government like an efficient business. I really don't think Obama would have stood a chance. But then again, only Kafka Romney stood a chance of even getting to the main stage.

What is interesting is that whether they like it or not, the Republicans are being forced to sort this out almost immediately. The Fiscal Cliff is approaching fast, and both sides are going to have their narratives laid bare by these negotiations and the manner in which they go about them. I think the Obama's narrative is pretty apparent. They want a compromise mix of cuts to spending and increase in revenue. That hasn't changed. They are going to ask for tax hikes on the wealthy (along the same lines as have been expressed for years now) and will give cuts in social program and military spending, with social making up the majority of spending cuts given (despite the howls from the left). Military spending will be the minority of cuts, but even the cuts that will happen will be shocking, and only made politically possible by the fact that Obama is not up for reelection. Republican who want it can take cuts in wasteful military spending and blame it all on a Dem.

I feel like the Republicans will be forced to finally give on increased revenues, and they will throw in the towel on the upper earners in accordance with the American people's wishes (according to polls). It just remains to be seen to what degree they bring compromise to the table, or if they bring us to the absolute brink of the financial cliff in order to try and avoid compromising even a single bit on revenues. This, and the rhetoric that surrounds their ultimate strategy (whatever they decide) will say a lot about how they'll govern going forward.

I'm really hoping that some actual compromise gets done, and I'm actually glad the fiscal cliff is coming, as it's going to force both parties to get their narratives together really fucking fast on an insanely important issue. We'll know where everybody stands pretty soon. Here's to hoping the showdown won't be as epic as it was the last time around.