Obama girds for nuclear budget war, cont.

So Obama has repackaged and linked two old proposals -- revenue-neutral corporate tax reform and a package of jobs stimulus measures. The tax reform would be revenue neutral over the long term, cutting rates and reducing loopholes, but would yield a one-shot revenue boost as the loopholes are closed, paying for teh short-term jobs measures.

This mini "grand bargain" is part of Obama's announced series of economic speeches and proposals.  The purpose, as I see it, is twofold. First, to shift the national agenda in the upcoming budget battles from deficit reduction to jobs (short-term stimulus and long-term investments). Second, to present Republicans with a series of manifestly reasonable programs and compromises to reject. That way, when they shut down the government or threaten national default because Obama won't agree to obscenely large spending cuts, he can say, "I offered to compromise six ways to Friday, but my opponents won't agree to anything but more spending cuts and more tax cuts." 

My fantasy flashes in the news, flickers, fades

I have fantasized from time to time that Obama would pull a Jan Brewer and refuse to sign any appropriations bills that don't shut off the sequester. Or the (earlier) Chris Christie variant: that he will sit back, crack open a beer, and wait for Congress to send him a budget he can sign.

Therefore, this peek at alleged White House deliberations by the Washington Post's Zachary Goldfarb and Paul Kane set my heart a bit aflutter:

White House officials also are discussing a potential strategy to try to stop the sequestration cuts from continuing, the lawmakers and Democrats said. Under this scenario, the president might refuse to sign a new funding measure that did not roll back the sequester.

But reality came back quick:

No decision has been made.

And this sounds more like Obama: