C'mon, John Cole -- you're better than that.

So, predictably, the House GOP has rejected Obama's jobs bill. Fine -- we knew that they would never give Obama a win and spend $447B in the process.

But here's how John Cole sees it playing out politically.

Up next, the manic progressive wing starts screaming about Obama not just making his job plan law by waving a magic wand, the “bully pulpit” chorus begins, all while the media completely ignore Republican intransigence and instead focuses on the “rift” inside the Democratic party while having concerned and excited chats about Obama’s sagging popularity.

Actually, that's wrong.

What will happen, if the last several years' precedent holds, is that Obama will start chipping away at his own plan, whittling it down while Republicans keep shouting, "Nyet."

Then, at the 11th hour, some crappy random collection of tax cuts will be passed under the name "American Jobs Act" and Obama and his apologists will declare victory -- and everyone will hate the Jobs Act, because of the spectacle it took to pass it, and because it will be toothless.

Now, I'm perfectly willing to let this play out -- my hope is Obama knew all along the GOP would reject the plan and he's going to use that as a cudgel in the 2012 election. He's going to say to the American people -- "I want to create jobs and the other side doesn't" and make it a binary choice. He's going to keep hammering them over and over and refuse to compromise, because he knows the public is with him.

I enjoy a good straw man as much as anyone else, but c'mon, John. Obama's problems aren't all about the liberal base of the Democratic Party and the media. That's silly.