Webster’s defines a “negotiation” as “discussions between adverse parties, with the goal of resolving their differences.”  This definition implies a mutual intent by the parties to not only come together to achieve a meeting of the minds, but to work through disagreements for the advancement of the common interest. 

Then there’s the meeting scheduled between the President and Republican leaders on Thursday at the Blair House.  A meeting that most likely is a trap being set by both parties attending, one without any mutual intention of developing a compromise bill.  This high hype, low substance meeting promises to produce one thing – a photo op, which is precisely why the Republicans should bail.  While the temptation to follow through on a year-long pledge to come to the table if invited, Republicans should fend off the urge and remind themselves that only one short vote ago – Scott Brown’s – this process was being hijacked with complete disregard for their policy inputs, and their voices were merely tedious noise along the unimpeded highway to a partisan legislative legacy.  But now a spirit of bipartisanship is in the air.  The President wants to hear what Republicans have to say.  Now there is a willingness to meet and listen and work together.  Or is there? 

A White House spokesperson was quoted recently as saying, “This is not starting over.  Don’t make any mistake about that.  What the President will not do is let this moment slip away.  He hopes to have Republican support in doing so – but he is going to move forward on health reform.”

Sounds like a take or leave it proposition, particularly in light of the President’s new proposal that he released yesterday.  These are not the actions of someone who sincerely is willing to work together and exchange ideas.  But to use the President’s favorite term, “let me be clear,” neither party truly wants to attend this meeting and nothing but political gain or loss will come from it, so the meeting should simply be canceled for the sake of the taxpayer.  After all, the cards are stacked against the Republicans, and the Republicans are not going to budge from their objections now that the President, as John Boehner says, “has doubled down on failure.”  The Republicans have everything to lose.  Sure they can argue after the fact that at least they tried to come to the table when invited.  But more likely they are being used as pawns in a brand new game of healthcare reform.  A game they thought they had won in Massachusetts.   

In the end, the outcome of this very public meeting will be the perception that the President has tried to work with Republicans, that the Republicans have no ideas and are unwilling to stop their raw obstruction, and a false justification for the Democrats to commandeer a budget process that enables passage of their bill with 51 votes.  And, once passed, the President will declare the bill bipartisan, say to the world that he listened to Republicans and that the bill contains their ideas and the GOP will be beaten again.  In politics perception is reality, and the reality is that the Republicans are stepping into a political trap. 

To reference the movie Hangover, Republicans may be waking up on Friday morning and asking themselves how the tiger ended up in the bathroom. 

Ken Nahigian is General Counsel and Director of Public Policy for Nahigian Strategies, LLC.