First lesson in negotiating

An interesting reflection from Obama in his press conference the other night, regarding negotiating with Republicans on the stimulus bill:

They were pleasantly surprised and complimentary about the tax cut that were presented in that framework. Those tax cuts are still in there. I mean, I suppose what I could have done is started off with no tax cuts, knowing that I was going to want some and then let them take credit for all of them. And maybe that’s the lesson I learned.

Um, yeah. Duh. I mean, no offense, but you don't begin a negotiation with a compromise.