President Barack Obama is defending his decision to compromise with congressional Republicans and agree to extend tax cuts for the wealthy in exchange for an extension of unemployment benefits.

Obama put out a video message and said that he refuses to play politics with the lives of millions of unemployed Americans.

"Because of this agreement, 2 million Americans who lost their jobs and are looking for work will be able to pay their rent and put food on their table. And in exchange for a temporary extension of the high-income tax breaks -- not a permanent but a temporary extension -- a policy that I opposed but that Republicans are unwilling to budge on, this agreement preserves additional tax cuts for the middle class that I fought for and that Republicans opposed two years ago," Obama said during a press conference.

Among the benefits of the agreement, according to the White House, is that working families would not see their taxes rise about $3,000 as they would have without an agreement; a payroll tax relief will provide about $120 billion for families and the deficit will not be affected.

"Now, I know there are some who would have preferred a protracted political fight, even if it had meant higher taxes for all Americans, even if it had meant an end to unemployment insurance for those who are desperately looking for work. And I understand the desire for a fight. I'm sympathetic to that," Obama said.

The president's logic makes sense. He should be applauded for being willing to take the criticism that will come with his decision to compromise with Republicans, although Obama still has to convince his fellow Democrats to vote for the plan.

However, Democrats seem to be consistently losing strategic battles even when they appear to have the advantage.

Democrats must find a way to unite behind the issues. Instead of coming together on this issue at a time when they need to demonstrate unity, they are looking like a fractured party with liberal Democrats leading the way.

I'm not sure why Democrats allowed the issue of whether to extend tax cuts for the wealthy to linger until an extension of unemployment benefits became a liability. And Democrats should have been out explaining to the public what the Republican position on tax cuts for the wealthy means to the majority of the people in this country.

The same thing happened during the health care debate. Instead of the debate being about providing millions of Americans with health coverage, it became a debate about whether this country was headed toward socialism.

"A long political fight that carried over into next year might have been good politics, but it would be a bad deal for the economy and it would be a bad deal for the American people. And my responsibility as President is to do what's right for the American people. That's a responsibility I intend to uphold as long as I am in this office," Obama said.