Obama Reportedly Sees a Personal "Win" in Fiscal Cliff Negotiations

The rest of us, of course, will be the losers

Business executives and others who've met with President Barack Obama in recent days describe a president who's supremely confident that he'll come out on top of a fiscal cliff deal — with Republicans bending to his will on tax increases for the wealthy and Democrats sucking up deep spending cuts.

These people say Obama is dismissive of the idea that deduction limitations and loophole closings alone are a sufficient or even desirable way to achieve the $1 trillion or more in new revenue he is seeking. And they say the president believes his relentless public campaign — which continued Wednesday and hits the road on Friday — along with widespread support in polls for letting the top George W. Bush-era rate cuts expire will overwhelm any remaining GOP resistance.