Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.
The enemy knows the Congress is a coequal branch of the government. The problem is the Republicans and the Speaker of the House do not. You actually have more power even than that. You have 30 Republican governors. Start using them.
Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people.
"New revenues from the rich" is the enemy's idea, not Republicans'.
Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of the enemy.
Bush is ancient history. Time to make your own and repudiate the past. Pass something in the House which goes farther than Bush ever dreamed, and send it to the Senate to enrage the enemy.
Rule 4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.
The enemy is funding gold-plated union jobs and pensions for federal and state workers at the expense of middle class Americans in the private sector who enjoy neither. It's time you reminded the middle class about that.
Rule 5: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.
Use surrogates saying: Moochelle. Crony capitalist. Ideologue. Bolshevik. Dictator. Muslim sympathizer. Race baiter. Panetta flies cross country too much at taxpayer expense. The vice president thinks FDR talked to a television camera.
Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy.
Republicans can campaign, too. Go frequently to friendly territory and bring 2016 hopefuls with you.
Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag.
The idea of compromise became a drag a long time ago. Stop waiting for it. Go on the offensive instead.
Rule 8: Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period.
The enemy is trying to combine everything into one event, "the fiscal cliff", which tells you they perceive they are at a disadvantage. They are. You need to keep the events separate and do things piecemeal. Raising the debt ceiling should come later, crossing the tax rates fiscal cliff should come first. Fight for spending cuts later with the debt ceiling, not now. Sequestration already gave you some spending cuts, which you should embrace.
Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself.
The greatest fear of the Democrats is a debt ceiling fueled government shutdown over spending cuts, but it wasn't the end of the world under Bill Clinton, and it won't be the end of the world if it happens in 2013. You actually won that in 2011. Do it again, except bigger, to satisfy the ratings agencies. Besides, it's red meat for the base.
Rule 10: Maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.
No more appearances with the enemy, especially on the golf course. You are third in line for the presidency. Start acting like it. Visit Afghanistan to encourage the troops.
Rule 11: If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside.
The place you need to get to is the same place you were at two times when the president extended the Bush tax rates, so you should know the way. An uncompromising new insistence on tax reform and much lower tax rates might get you there. It changes the subject and focuses the argument on relieving the taxpayers. The president upped the ante. You need to see him and raise him. Aim for the moon, and you might get into orbit.
Rule 12: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
You might not get the radical tax reform, about which you must be deadly serious, but settling for making the Bush tax cuts permanent is a constructive alternative.
Rule 13: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.
Focus your attention on answering the partisanship of individuals in the pundit class. Don't fire Tea Party men. Enlist them in attacking the enemy. They are good at it, and they will repay you with support later.
