You can’t negotiate with a spreadsheet. Or a chunk of granite. Or a spreadsheet carved into a chunk of granite.

Likewise, it makes no sense to enter into discussions with someone whose positions are effectively set in stone.

So it has been in Washington for some time now.

Some won’t talk about taxes. Others won’t discuss spending. And so it goes. That is: And so nothing goes.

When President Barack Obama recently told congressional Republicans that he’d be willing to consider a budget deal that did not contain any sort of tax increase, this was more than it seemed. Some Republicans responded in kind, suggesting that they’d be willing to show some flexibility on spending cuts that they generally consider inviolate.

No one is talking about any so-called grand bargain, the sort of deal that comes along only once in a generation, a top-to-bottom revamping of taxes and spending in which everyone gives a little and the economy is put on some sort of stable footing, at least for a time.

What’s hoped for — and what’s possible — is a deal that might head off disaster.

It’s important to remember that last month’s deal to end the government shutdown will keep the doors of the federal bureaucracy open only until Jan. 15. Two and a half months isn’t a whole lot of time. And with time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas and the start of the new year, there’ll be even less time to find something that’s workable, that a majority can agree to.

This is why the talk recently — both from the White House and congressional Republicans — was so encouraging. On the surface, it might not have seemed like much. But when one considers what lies ahead, some seemingly small concessions could add up to a really big deal.

— The Republican of Springfield (Mass.)