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Obama: On Taxes, 'We've Got To Find Consensus'

Earlier today we noted that NPR's Cokie Roberts says "Republicans are getting what they want" on taxes.

President Obama just told an audience in Winston-Salem, N.C., that in the debate over soon-to-expire Bush-era tax cuts, "we've got to make sure that we're coming up with a solution ... even if it's not 100 percent of what I want or what the Republicans want."

"We've got to find consensus here," he said.

The deal that seems to be emerging: Extend the tax cuts for everyone (the Republicans' preference) for a couple years; and extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed (a priority for the president).

Over at It's All Politics, our colleague Ken Rudin examines the ... politics ... of the debate.

Update at 1 p.m. ET: Earlier today, on board Air Force One, White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters that the president "is confident that in the next couple of days or so we will find a way to extend tax cuts for middle-class families and do some other things that the president thinks are important in helping to grow the economy and create jobs."

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.