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Suddenly, the word "compromise" is back in vogue. Newly re-elected President Obama talked about it Election Night. So did House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. But we didn't hear it from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

CHICAGO, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Suddenly, the word "compromise" is back in vogue.

Newly re-elected President Barack Obama talked about it Election Night. So did House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

But we didn't hear it from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and therein lies the rub as the end of the year approaches and the so-called "fiscal cliff" looms.

"The American people did two things: They gave President Obama a second chance to fix the problems that even he admits he failed to solve during his first four years in office, and they preserved Republican control of the House of Representatives," McConnell said in a statement, ignoring the Senate Republican filibusters that prevented many of the administration's initiatives from going forward.

"The voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president's first term, they have simply given him more time to finish the job they asked him to do together with a Congress. ...

"Now it's time for the president to propose solutions that actually have a chance of passing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a closely divided Senate, step up to the plate on the challenges of the moment, and deliver in a way that he did not in his first four years in office.

"To the extent he wants to move to the political center, which is where the work gets done in a divided government, we'll be there to meet him halfway."

If recent history is any guide, that halfway point to which McConnell alludes is the Republican point of view.

Economic analysts have been warning for months that allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire coupled with the draconian spending cuts adopted as an incentive to get Congress to do something about tax reform would spell economic disaster for the United States.

Original post:
Fiscal cliff: Compromise or hope for the best