While the tax cut sell-out confirms that DINO Obama and his administration are pathetic negotiators, that was just another in a litany of examples that shows their terrible lack of governing instincts.

More examples that speak volumes:

From emptywheel:  "According to TSA Director John Pistole it’s up to him–his responsibility–to determine what the appropriate balance between privacy and security.

"Now, I appreciate that, at some level, it is up to him. He’s in charge of TSA and he’s got to make the final decision whether to implement (or discontinue) a controversial scanning technology.

"But it’s not up to him.

"It’s up to the entities that review counterterrorism techniques for their civil liberties and privacy impact. Specifically it’s up to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which is mandated by Congress to do the following:

(1) analyze and review actions the executive branch takes to protect the Nation from terrorism, ensuring that the need for such actions is balanced with the need to protect privacy and civil liberties; and

(2) ensure that liberty concerns are appropriately considered in the development and implementation of laws, regulations, and policies related to efforts to protect the Nation against terrorism.

"The PCLOB never got fully off the ground after it was passed in 2007. More appallingly, Obama hasn’t even nominated anyone to the board.

(My note: The Obama administration has failed to fill vacancies in many agencies, allowing the GOP to continue to run government operation.  Obama, Axelrod, et al. didn't hit the ground running, they just hit the ground.)

"There is a means to conduct an independent review of where the line between privacy and security is–or at least there’s supposed to be, even if Obama refuses to fulfill that mandate.

"I’m sure it’s nice for Obama and Pistole that, rather than having an independent board review gate grope before it gets implemented, Pistole just took it on himself to decide whether it’s constitutional and appropriate or not.

"But that’s not how it’s supposed to work."

And from Blue Texan at Firedoglake who asks,  "Compare and contrast: how the White House deals with Mitch McConnell vs. House Democrats:

"Good cop:

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and a single staff member had slipped into the ceremonial office of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to try to hash out a compromise directly with the vice president, who was accompanied by a top aide of his own, Ron Klain, his chief of staff.

The meeting was one of a number of direct conversations over the next few days between Mr. Biden and Mr. McConnell, the Senate Republican leader and a Senate colleague of Mr. Biden’s for nearly 25 years, that ultimately led to the agreement reached Monday. It was a bipartisan bargain that — in a startling departure from the past two years in the capital — ended with Republicans praising it and Democrats claiming they were blindsided and undercut.

"Bad cop:

In a forceful presentation, however, Biden made it clear that big changes are not in the cards. “The vice president said: ‘This is the deal. Take it or leave it,’ ” an irritated Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.) said, paraphrasing Biden.

"Funny how Republicans never get told, “ 'Take it or leave it.' ”