Obama's Mandate - Who Has The Leverage?

"Business organizations said Wednesday Barack Obama's re-election gives him a mandate to quickly address the pending fiscal cliff and work for deficit reduction and tax reform.

The groups, however, stressed the two goals shouldn't both be tackled in the next few months.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

"There isn't much time," said John Engler, president of the Business Roundtable, referring to the lame-duck session of Congress. "At minimum you have to get the fiscal cliff under control" by extending existing tax rules through 2013 and avoiding steep cuts to military spending and other government budgets.

Mr. Engler said any type of "grand bargain" should be put off until next year to avoid the risk that Congress ends up gridlocked in an attempt to enact wider reforms before mid-January."*

Cenk Uygur breaks down Obama's mandate-- will he use it, or throw leverage back to Boehner and the Republicans? Will promises of raising taxes on the rich be fulfilled? Or will he enter into a grand bargain-- which is NOT helpful to progressives or in line with Obama's progressive-minded platforms?

*Read more from Eroc Morath/ Wall Street Journal:

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