Krauthammer: Geithner's 'Insulting' Deal (Video)

Charles Krauthammer gives his take on the "fiscal cliff" deal offered by Timothy Geithner yesterday.

Here's video:

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: It's not just a bad deal. This is really an insulting deal. What Geithner offered, what you showed on the screen, Robert E. Lee was offered easier terms at Appomattox, and he had lost a civil war.

The Democrats have won by three percent of the vote and they did not hold the House. Republicans won the House, so this is not exactly unconditional surrender, but that's what the administration is asking of the Republicans.

This idea there not only are no cuts in this, there's an increase in spending with a new stimulus. I mean, this is almost unheard of. I mean, what do they expect? They obviously expect the Republicans will cave on everything. I think the Republicans ought to simply walk away.

The president is the president. He's the leader. They are demanding that Republicans explain all the cuts that they want to make. We had that movie a year and a half ago where Paul Ryan presented a budget, a serious, real budget with real cuts.

Obama was supposed to give a speech in which he would respond with a counter offer. And what did he do? He gave a speech where he had Ryan sitting in the front row. He called the Ryan proposal un-American, insulted him, offered nothing, and ran on Medi-scare in the next 18 months. And they expect Republicans are going to do this again?

The Republicans are going to walk on this, and I think they have leverage. Yes, for Congressional Democrats, it will help them in the future if Republicans absorb the blame, because we're going to have a recession.

But Obama's not running again, unlike the Congressional Democrats. He's going to have a recession, 9 percent unemployment, 2 million more unemployed, and a second term that's going to be a ruin.

I do find Obama's cockiness and arrogance and flat-out incompetence to be stunning.

I can't help but think of what might have been.

Everything would be so different right now if Romney and Ryan had won.