This seems a good window into the odd, invariably combative thinking of the media’s Obamasphere (which really does seem to track with former members of Ezra Klein’s “Journolist” group–sorry!) . It’s odd for several reasons:

a) Republicans recently acceded to $600 billion in revenue increases. “Nothing”?

b) Where is there a rule that says the two parties have to meet halfway in between their initial bargaining positions? They may get more than that, or they may get less, depending on what leverage they have (and how realistic their initial position was). That’s negotiating. It’s not a very powerful moral argument, or maybe not even a moral argument at all, to say “you have leverage and you aren’t giving up much.”

c) You’d think the rule that should govern pundits is “if it’s a deal within the bounds of reason, and a net plus for the country, it’s good. If not, it’s not.”