Chuck Todd.

Q    Mr. President, what do you say to Democrats who say you’re rewarding Republican obstruction here?  You yourself used in your opening statement they were unwilling to budge on this.  A lot of progressive Democrats are saying they’re unwilling to budge, and you’re asking them to get off the fence and budge.  Why should they be rewarding Republican obstruction?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, let me use a couple of analogies（类比） .  I’ve said before that I felt that the middle-class tax cuts were being held hostage to the high-end tax cuts.  I think it’s tempting not to negotiate with hostage-takers, unless the hostage gets harmed.  Then people will question the wisdom of that strategy.  In this case, the hostage was the American people and I was not willing to see them get harmed.

Again, this not an abstract political fight.  This is not isolated here in Washington.  There are people right now who, when their unemployment insurance runs out, will not be able to pay the bills.  There are folks right now who are just barely making it on the paycheck that they’ve got, and when that paycheck gets smaller on January 1st, they’re going to have to scramble（抢夺，争夺） to figure out, how am I going to pay all my bills?  How am I going to keep on making the payments for my child’s college tuition?  What am I going to do exactly?

Now, I could have enjoyed the battle with Republicans over the next month or two, because as I said, the American people are on our side.  This is not a situation in which I have failed to persuade the American people of the rightness of our position.  I know the polls.  The polls are on our side on this.  We weren’t operating from a position of political weakness with respect to public opinion.  The problem is that Republicans feel that this is the single most important thing that they have to fight for as a party.  And in light of that, it was going to be a protracted（拖延的） battle and they would have a stronger position next year than they do currently.

So I guess another way of thinking about it is that if -- certainly if we had made a determination that the deal was a permanent tax break for high-income individuals in exchange for these short-term things that people need right now, that would have been unacceptable.  And the reason is, is because you would be looking at $700 billion that would be added to the deficit with very little on the short term that would help to offset（抵消，弥补） that.

The deal that we’ve struck here makes the high-end tax cuts temporary, and that gives us the time to have this political battle without having the same casualties for the American people that are my number one concern.

Q    If I may follow, aren’t you telegraphing, though, a negotiating strategy of how the Republicans can beat you in negotiations all the way through the next year because they can just stick to their guns, stay united, be unwilling to budge -- to use your words -- and force you to capitulate（认输，屈服） ?

THE PRESIDENT:  I don’t think so.  And the reason is because this is a very unique circumstance.  This is a situation in which tens of millions of people would be directly damaged and immediately damaged, and at a time when the economy is just about to recover.

Now, keep in mind, I’ve just gone through two years, Chuck, where the rap on me was I was too stubborn（顽固的） and wasn’t willing to budge on a whole bunch of issues -- including, by the way, health care where everybody here was writing about how, despite public opinion and despite this and despite that, somehow the guy is going to bulldoze（强迫，恫吓） his way through this thing.

Q    Tell that to the left -- they weren’t happy --

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, but that’s my point.  My point is I don’t make judgments based on what the conventional wisdom is at any given time.  I make my judgments based on what I think is right for the country and for the American people right now.

And I will be happy to see the Republicans test whether or not I’m itching for a fight on a whole range of issues.  I suspect they will find I am.  And I think the American people will be on my side on a whole bunch of these fights.  But right now I want to make sure that the American people aren’t hurt because we’re having a political fight, and I think that this agreement accomplishes that.

And, as I said, there are a whole bunch of things that they are giving up.  I mean, the truth of the matter is, from the Republican perspective, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the college tuition tax credit, the Child Tax Credit -- all those things that are so important for so many families across the country -- those are things they really opposed.  And so temporarily, they are willing to go along with that, presumably because they think they can beat me on that over the course of the next two years.#p#分页标题#e#

And I’m happy to have that battle.  I’m happy to have that conversation.  I just want to make sure that the American people aren’t harmed while we’re having that broader argument.