David Brooks on the fiscal cliff: GOP has a brain freeze

New York Times columnist David Brooks on Sunday said Republicans had prevented a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff because the party was at odds with itself.

"What's happening in Washington right now is pathetic. When you think about what the revolutionary generation did, what the civil war generation did, what the World War II generation did, we're asking not to bankrupt our children and we've got a shambolic, dysfunctional process," he remarked on NBC's Meet the Press.

"Now I think most of the blame still has to go to the Republicans," Brooks added. "They've had a brain freeze since the election. They have no strategy. They don't know what they want. They haven't decided what they want."

Republican House Speaker John Boehner (OH) broke off budget negotiations with the President Barack Obama earlier this month and attempted to pass his "Plan B" bill. Boehner's proposal would have extended tax cuts for those making less than $1 million a year, but died to due to a lack of support from his own party.

But Obama was partially at fault too, according to Brooks, who said the President had "governed like a visitor from a morally superior civilization" at times. Brooks said Republicans needed to be reassured that Obama wouldn't "screw" them if they took a risk.

"They do not feel that right now."

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