Obama Bets Re-Election Gave Him Power to Win Fiscal Cliff

President Barack Obama is betting that his re-election gave him the political clout to force Republicans to accept higher taxes on upper-income Americans as a step toward reducing the federal deficit.

In positioning for advantage in negotiations on the fiscal cliff, Obama has been replicating some of the tactics used in his successful campaign for a second term, including speeches, meetings with stakeholders and using social media to make his case to voters. Today the president spent about 45 minutes answering questions on Twitter Inc.’s microblogging service.