Obama, GOP hope for post-election compromise

In any normal year, this should be the lull time, the predictable rest between election night and when the governing begins.

Who said this year is normal?

Instead of basking in his victory, Barack Obama is staring over the edge of a steep fiscal cliff. And instead of sharpening their knives -- OK, along with sharpening their knives -- the president's Republican opponents are speaking the usual words of intransigence but in notably softer tones. There is in the air the slightest whiff of hope.

It's a hope born of desperation, to be sure, but hope nonetheless.

We've got real problems, and they must be confronted, like, now. If Republicans and Democrats can't reach a post-election fiscal deal, taxes will shoot up for everyone. Federal spending will take a giant whack, including federal spending that no sane person would ever want to cut. Sequestration: Even the word sounds ominous, as does the phrase "busted debt limit," which is just as real.

On Friday, Obama said he was prepared to make some compromises with Republicans, which is fairly gracious for someone who just thumped them in his re-election vote. John Boehner, the House Republican leader, repeated his usual no-new-taxes-on-the-rich pledge, adding that Republicans want to make a deal "in a manner that ensures that 2013 is finally the year that our government comes to grips with the major problems that are facing us."

So what exactly does that mean? We get one more week for optimism. Then things could get ugly fast.

1. Bankruptcy Bluff

2. Profit Peaks

3. Austerity Acres

4. Capital Cul-de-sac

5. Revenue Ridge

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