With a vote on the “Buffett rule’’ scheduled for today, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee was one of a handful of Republican senatorsthe White House thought it could squeeze by cranking up the political rhetoric surrounding the proposed millionaires’ tax. The procedural maneuver is destined to fail. The effort reveals a president hell bent on re-election, determined to avoid any substantive issues, and offending the very type of leader that he claims America needs - and that he wishes he were.