Until 1960 a mother who had an autistic child not only had to deal with that heart break , she also had to listen when the  Freudian  psychiatrists or psychologists  she consulted "helped" her by telling her she made her child autistic.. 

They described how a perfect mother would deal with a child who spread feces on the wall, bit his mother's cheek when she leaned over to kiss him, and pulled out his sister's hair.And asked whether she was demonstrating that perfection. No? Well then she was responsible for her child not only not being perfect but being highly imperfect . "Like you" was the unstated clause.

Then ,around 1960 Donald Winnicot , a British psychologist suggested that mothers shouldn't be expected to be perfect. They should be good enough. Although he himself never took a stand in flat objection , the plain words  could have been taken to imply that  if the child of a good enough mother was autistic it wasn't her fault.  In time the phrase has been extended to ordinary living as in the good enough carpenter or the good enough politician or even political negotiator..

This week's cliff agreement wasn't perfect. Obama/Biden should have forced the Republicans to also raise the debt limit. And instead of raising the payroll tax by 2% they should have continued not to fund social security. And the Bush tax cuts should have been eliminated starting at $250K of family income instead of $450K.

And if my mother had tires she would have been a Mack truck.

What Obama got was "good enough": put some progressivity back into the tax code extended unemployment compensation. So what did Obama/Biden do wrong? At that point the conversation switches from political economics to inside baseball.

Having said he wanted taxes to rise at $250K Obama shouldn't later have accepted $400K.  

Why? Does it make that much difference to the Government's cash flow? No, but once Obama has said  he wants something he should never settle for something else.. Because the next time he has to bargain he'll.....have to bargain.

Ladies and Gentlemen and those of tender years who have stumbled into this post That's Called Negotiating. In good faith.You did it when you bought your last house or second hand car. 

Obama got a good enough deal, on the numbers themselves. And that's in no way invalidated because in the process he followed the normal  negotiating technique of  starting high and then settling for less.