Morning Examiner: After the cliff

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.”