President Obama and Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, met for the first time in three weeks yesterday, but it does not appear any progress was made toward a ‘grand bargain’ on the fiscal cliff. “This afternoon, the president and Mr. Boehner met at the White House to discuss efforts to resolve the fiscal cliff,” almost identical statements from the White House and Speakers’ office read Sunday. “The lines of communication remain open,” the White House statement added.

Frustrated with the White House’s constant “lines of communication remain open,” CBS’s Major Garrett asked a White House aide, “Well, look, the lines of communications were open during the Cold War, too.” The White House aide responded, “Yeah, the Cold War ended when one side realized they couldn’t win.”