Maybe the headline of this piece is redundant.

The President made his proposal yesterday. I missed the speech, but got the gist.

The plan is a little less than what the Democrats would have proposed if they weren't trying to pre-negotiate with the Republicans. (Seen as a sign of weakness by the Repubs, causing them to push harder.)

Further, the President says if the compromise the special panel comes back with doesn't contain serious tax increases for the rich, if they don't bear their share of the burden of deficit reduction, if it just falls on the backs of the poor and middle class, he will veto it.

So here's what the pundits say.

1. WTF is he doing. This makes no sense.

2. The Repubs say his plan is dead on arrival.

3. He's playing nasty politics with the veto.

4. So this is really about the election, not what's happening now.

Okay, it's hypocrisy to put #2 and #3 together. Let's be fair, call them both ugly or both DOA. But not one standard for one party and another for the other. That's part of what leads to the lopsided equilibrium we're at.

And what the pundits don't get, that the President all of a sudden seems to, is that there's a third party involved here. It's not just Democrats and Republicans -- there are taxpayers, voters, citizens -- people -- here. Whatever you want to call them, we can change what the parties do.

And get this, it doesn't have to wait until the election. If all of a sudden the voters realize this is their call, the Republicans will change. And that will happen long before next year's elections.

Of course the Republicans totally understand what he's doing and they're desperately trying to sling mud on it to give the reporters some ugly questions to ask. Like the DOA stuff.

 9/20/2011; 8:52:02 AM.   .