First when he was OMB director and then as chief of staff in the Clinton White House, Leon Panetta was famous (some might say infamous) for negotiating with congressional Republicans on the budget. He'd negotiate a deal in private and then either denounce it publically or come back the next day demanding something more. He was one of the reasons the Clinton administration ran circles around the GOP congressional majority that, led by Newt Gingrich, was assumed to be in control.

This week it was a GOP White House that pulled a Panetta.

After negotiating all week in private with the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate and seemingly at least coming close to an agreement on the FY08 appropriations and additional spending for activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, OMB Director Jim Nussle announced yesterday that the president would veto the compromise he had been negotiating. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also announced that the deal, which he was also helping to negotiate, was unacceptable, would be vetoed, and he was okay with it.

The ultimate irony in this situation is that several days earlier at a press conference President Bush said that he wasn't going to negotiate with the Democrats until the House and Senate had a unified position that he could respond to. In reality. however, it was the Democrats who have been negotiating with an administration and its congressional allies that either intentionally or otherwise, don't have a unified position.

The Democrats can't win in this situation unless they demonstrate testicular fortitude they so far haven't shown. Unless they demand direct negotiations with the president and cut out congressional Republicans, they will continue to be played...and played...and...