(Barack Obama) First Thoughts: A fragile deal?

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE – DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE If Obama and Boehner are able to strike a deal, it will more than likely be a fragile one… Labor battle in Michigan: right to work and right to protest… Labor takes another punch… But will it be another Pyrrhic victory for the GOP (at least in the short run)?… Will the RNC’s autopsy satisfy conservatives who are charging that establishment GOPers are simply making money off the party, win or lose?… Nikki Haley to hold news conference at noon ET (but isn’t expected to announce appointment)… And meet Sean Patrick Maloney. By Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Brooke Brower *** A fragile deal? While there’s some optimism that President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner can strike a deal to avert the looming tax hikes and spending cuts — no news is good news, after all — it’s important to point out how fragile any deal would likely be. If there will be serious tax and entitlement reform, you’ll have triggers to enforce them. So essentially, you’re solving this so-called fiscal cliff by creating new ones. Here are the reasons for optimism: Obama and Boehner met on Sunday; the president’s public schedule is mostly free today (suggesting that he’s busy working on this matter); and more and more Republicans are coming around to the idea that they’re probably going to have to cave on tax rates. But here’s the pessimism: raising the debt ceiling. We’re hearing that this issue might be the biggest obstacle