If the tax cut is not extended, payroll taxes for 160 million Americans would jump from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent on January 1, costing a typical worker about $1,000 a year.

“The rebellion of the Tea Party faction of the Republican Party in the House has again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory,” Steve Bell, a veteran Republican budget analyst, said of the payroll tax cut revolt. “The damage to the Republican brand is profound.”

Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist, also expressed frustration that despite his party’s spending victories this year, they enter 2012 risking a voter backlash.

“The White House is winning the spin wars,” O’Connell said. “The White House message that Republicans are the party of Wall Street and the rich is gaining more ground than any message the Republicans have…

Allen West, a first-term House Republican from Florida, said the president had “an incredible megaphone” in blaming Republicans for lack of progress in Congress.

“We need to do a better job of messaging,” West told Reuters.