What do you do when the opposition’s working night and day to convince voters that you’re an obstructionist, almost nihilistic group that’ll never compromise on anything? Raise the stakes and catch them off guard by proposing a much bigger compromise than they were expecting.

Just one problem with this offer: Would the public really view Obama as the unreasonable party to these negotiations if he turned around and said no?

With the administration’s debt ceiling deadline fast approaching, House Republican leaders are considering a four-year debt limit increase that would take the issue off the table for the rest of President Barack Obama’s presidency.

The plan would, however, come at no easy price for Obama, who pledged as recently as Monday morning not to negotiate with Republicans on a debt ceiling hike. Republicans would demand major tax and entitlement changes — the latter of which has been anathema to many Democrats — and they could also ask for movement on the sequester and an expiring continuing resolution that must be dealt with in the next three months.

The idea was one of many brought up over Sunday and Monday, as Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and his leadership team and staff held a strategy session in Warrenton, Va.

“We have an opportunity to inject years of certainty while doing some fundamental tax reform and entitlement reform,” said Rep. Steve Southerland II of Florida, the sophomore class leadership representative, who was at the meeting.

Unless the GOP’s prepared to not only hit the ceiling but hold out for weeks under immense economic and political pressure in hopes of extracting major cuts (which seems unlikely if even Republican senators are grumbling about another debt limit standoff), then a big PR ploy like this makes some sense. If you’re not going get anything meaningful from a confrontation, why not use it as an opportunity to make the left into the bad guy? Four-year debt-ceiling increase! Party of yes! New golden age of bipartisan cooperation! If the Democrats can come to the table, of course.

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Read More:http://hotair.com/archives/2013/01/15/ne...of-obamas-term/