It's time for President Obama to show Republicans the door.  

Anyone who has ever been in car sales can tell you why.

In my younger days, I was a car salesman.  It was a great and horrible experience and one that lead me to the notion that two things would make the world a better place:

1. Everyone must be a car salesman for one year.
2. No one should be a car salesman for more than one year.

You learn a lot about human nature as a car salesman.  You also get to know so much that you start to get jaded about people in general.  But I digress.  

One typical scenario in the price negotiations of a car was when the buyer would say, "I'll pay $25,000 and not a dollar more!"  To the rookie salesman, this seemed to be a roadblock, a deal killer, especially if the salesman knew there was no way he could sell the car for $25,000.  

However, to the seasoned pro, there was one easy way to discover if he was dealing with a reasonable person who truly wanted to do business, or was the buyer a nut case who did not deserve another minute of his time.

All the salesman had to do when faced with this ultimatum is to reply, "Well, I can get close to that figure, but I can't meet it.  Thanks for your offer.  Have a nice day."  

At this point, the buyer would typically ask the following, "How close can you get?", to which the seasoned salesman would answer, "What difference does it make?  You already said you would not pay a dollar more?" 

Then came the moment of discovery.  If the buyer said, "Well, I could go a little higher", the salesman would learn that he was dealing with a reasonable person, one who wanted to buy a car at a fair price, not someone who was stuck on a particular figure; a figure that often had more of an emotional foundation than an economic one.  From this point on the salesman would typically make a deal (I usually did), because reasonable people do reasonable things.  

There were times when the customer would say that he would not buy at any price higher than $25,000 but still wanted to know the number that the salesman could offer.  My reply to this was always, "Why?  What difference is it?  No matter what it is, a few hundred more, a dollar more, it does not matter?"  And I would extend my hand and say, "Thanks for you offer.  Please know that when you are able to negotiate, I will be here."  

Sometimes they would come back, sometimes not. At least I did not waste my time trying to negotiate with someone who was not willing to negotiate.

It is clear that the Republicans are unwilling to negotiate.  There is no point in trying to get them to do their jobs and run our government in a way that competing interests can find common ground.  They are not interested in a deal, not concerned with the priorities of others.  They are simply and singularly focused on their own self interests -to hell with anyone else.  They will not give an inch of ground on protecting their wealthy constituents from a reasonable tax rate.  They will not budge one penny of tax increases for their corporate masters who fund their re-election campaigns.   

President Obama has shown true leadership, maturity, and guts in proposing spending cuts that will not be applauded by members of his political party and many left wing ideologues. He is putting his country first.  He is doing his job as a president, ignoring the damage this might do to his re-election or fund raising for the 2012 campaign.  And the Republicans?  Well, actions speak louder than words.  They would rather throw the nation into default than offend the fringe members of their political party. 

It is time for President Obama to extend his hand to the Republicans, and say, "Thanks for your time. When you are willing to negotiate and fulfill your duty to the American people, you know where to find me."