If this story is true, Obama just made a huge blunder… not his first, alas, and almost certainly not his last, but possibly one of the worst.

A Republican aide e-mails me: “The Speaker, Sen. Reid and Sen. McConnell all agreed on the general framework of a two-part plan. A short-term increase (with cuts greater than the increase), combined with a committee to find long-term savings before the rest of the increase would be considered. Sen. Reid took the bipartisan plan to the White House and the President said no.”

If Obama truly rejected a plan that Reid helped work out, that indicates a big split in the Democrats, and Obama has the short end of the stick. If the GOP candidate can run ads next year saying that Obama rejected a bipartisan plan to fix what Obama himself refers to as a crisis, then Obama’s first term will also be his last.