Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee writes:

Today, President Obama repeatedly stated that he ‘can’t persuade’ Senate Republicans to end tax cuts for the rich. In addition to undercutting his ‘yes we can’ mantra, the sad reality is that President Obama never even tried to persuade Republicans to do the right thing. He telegraphed his willingness to cave from the start by solely talking about ‘compromise’ and never talking about holding Republicans accountable to their constituents if they opposed him.

Until President Obama flies to states like Maine and Massachusetts to rally the constituents of Republican senators and command local media attention, he has zero standing to say he tried to persuade Senate Republicans and zero standing to ask millions of his former supporters to support an incompetently negotiated deal.

I couldn’t have said it better.