President Obama will meet with congressional leaders today at the White House where, if history is any indication, he will give another ineffective lecture that does nothing to avoid the $500 billion in tax hikes and $100 billion in spending cuts scheduled to begin on January 1st.

Obama could have returned from Hawaii and begun working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to craft a bill that would have prevented any tax hikes on incomes below $250,000, and maybe even included an extension of unemployment benefits, but it does not appear Democrats even want to attempt such a last minute effort. “I have to be very honest,” Reid said yesterday on the Senate floor, “I don’t know time-wise hot it can happen now.”