Here’s item #3, and … oh my … it has surely been the topic of conversation on the Sunday shows for the past two sessions:

3). FIND the will and a way to work with the Republicans. You are way smarter than them, but you need to get past that. Without bipartisan cooperation, we cannot solve any of our problems. So get over the fact that they hate you for being who and what you are and rise to your level of potential. I’ll bet Michelle tells you the same thing.

The key words in advice item #3 are “the will”. If you can find the will, the way is fairly easy. But I think finding the will is hard because you have to summon a modicum of respect for your adversary to effectively negotiate with them. Because the President is so much brighter and has more integrity than the Republican cadre, he is struggling with dealing. Instead, he puts the onus on the Congressional Dems who, we all know, could not manage their way out of a brown paper bag.

That just won’t work. They may not be as smart or have as much soul as you, sir, but nonetheless they exist and YOU, sir, have to be the one to make the deal. No other…

How would I approach this if I were in your shoes? I’d do these three things:

a) Role play the negotiations with trusted colleagues – just like the practice for the debate. That way, you can actually see the face of your trusted colleague when you’re talking with John Boehner or Mitch McConnell, because you’ve practiced it that way. That will help with your body language which, frankly sir, you are lousy at hiding.

b) Figure out what you want and communicate that within the next five days to the populace…make it the obvious conclusion. Forget the political debt you owe the left side of the party who want you to hold out and go over the cliff. You don’t owe them anything. You could have shown up drunk for each of the three debate sessions, and they’d have come out stronger for you. Besides, the White House is lost in 2016 anyway, so… what the hell? Go for whatever it takes to negate the ‘no taxes of any kind’ pledge that the Reps are ready to give up. Tax rates up by a little, and deductions down by a little. Now – wasn’t that easy?

c) Finally, recognize that even though they were mean to you, you don’t trust them, in point of fact you loathe them and everything they stand for, you still have to reach a deal with them. As such, recognize their dilemma, clues of which could be found in the Grand Bargain negotiations from last year. The Republican party’s problem isn’t John Boehner or Mitch McConnell, it’s the stalwart holdouts from the last vestiges of the tealiban members in the House. They need to be sufficiently won over to prevent a mass exodus to the door when the vote comes up. There is still enough fear in the average Republican’s heart of being replaced in the next primary that a real potential exists for this ‘no’ vote to occur. Can you help John and Mitch with these folks? Who knows – but at least you can have a frank discussion with J&M on the topic, and volunteer to try with the vast resources at your disposal. That will show empathy and maybe help you get past the smug attitude that is so off-putting to them.

There you have it – really quite easy…we’ll see whether we can turn a corner with this problem. Because there is much more at stake than this so-called ‘cliff’. There’s every potential for the US economy to begin a true recovery this year if bipartisan cooperation prevails. Everybody wants it – even folks in the rest of the world want it. So let’s see if we can do it, eh?