The next few months will be one of the most difficult stretches of Obama’s presidency. He needs to make a large debt deal that will likely forestall the sequester spending cuts and ending of the Bush tax cuts for the middle class. If this “grand bargain” looks anything like the last “grand bargain” he almost signed, it will raise the eligibility age for Medicare and include some cuts to Social Security.

However, it’s likely that the president will get a much better deal than he would have in 2010.

Why? Now he can afford to play chicken. If the GOP won’t extend the Bush tax cuts for the middle class without including the rich, he can let them all expire and watch the GOP try to blame the guy who never has to win another election.