So we hammered out a deal that reflects ideas from both sides. It wasn’t easy, and it’s by no means perfect. And as with any compromise, everybody had to live with elements they didn’t like. But this is a good deal for the American people. The vast majority of the tax cuts in this plan will help the middle class, including a new cut in payroll taxes that will save the average family about $1,000. And as this plan is debated in Congress, what I want to make clear is the real difference it will make in people’s lives.

A few things:

My local, phone and other utility taxes just went up as of January 1. Like many people, I don’t know all the details of this week’s “deal,” but again, like many people, considering the circumstances of taxes going up on the state/local level, I will see little if any difference except perhaps less money to blow on a latte or two. Actually, if there’s anything in this “deal” I’ll support is to have jobless benefits restored to those who were cut earlier this month.

Apparently, the President and his aides have caught up with the messaging of “the not so perfect deal.” Let’s not hold hands and sing “Kumbaya,” but hold our noses and push on. Or the press has decided it’s time to move on to the 2nd Act. We’ve set up the conflict; now for the transition. The anger talk of “losing base,” “weakness” has faded into poll numbers in support of “the deal,” a Senate vote to move forward.

“All or nothing” is rarely if ever a political way forward. But as linguist George Lakoff pointed in an op-ed on the messaging of the “deal”:

All politics is moral. Policies are proposed because they are assumed to be right, not wrong. The moral values behind a policy always should be made clear.

Which in some ways might go over better with most Americans than the white board.