I’ve often written about my nineteen-year community organizing career, and how I learned about the importance of compromise during that time — the kind of compromise that’s “half a loaf” not “half a baby.”

In fact, I have a “The Best…” list titled The Best Posts & Articles About Compromise.

I have two new additions to this list — both relating to the fiscal cliff negotiations happening now.

One is What negotiation theory can teach us about the fiscal cliff talks from The Washington Post, and I take the headline of this post from that article’s last line.

The other is also from The Post, Should Democrats have helped Boehner pass Plan B?

That second article offers an intriguing perspective, as does the comments that can be found following-up. On the surface, I think it could have been a good strategy (and still could be). The important piece of information, however, is if Democrats have any history with the Speaker that could lead them to believe he is trustworthy or untrustworthy. If it’s the former, the strategy suggested in the article could make sense. If it’s the later, I don’t think as big an issue as this one is the first opportunity you want to offer to begin rebuilding that trust — that can only come in small increments.

A connection to teacher/administrator relations, and a teacher evaluation process is easy to make…