Worse set of prorities is hard to imagine

The Obama Administration seems to be convinced that deficit reduction is a worthwhile thing to do and that tax cuts are the only tool left in the bag that they're able to use. Of course, neither course of action is going to win any Republican cooperation. Republicans don't have any interest in cooperating or in governing, so a government shut-down is more or less guaranteed no matter what the administration does. It's just so sad to see our government give up on meaningful policy changes, especially when cooperation and making concessions has proven to be such an utter loser of a strategy.

Heck, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has admitted flat-out that:

"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."