Thursday, July 14, 2011

Good question - Hot Air: "If default would be a catastrophe, why is Obama opposed to a short-term deal that would avert it?" He better warm up to the idea, because that's the way this is heading.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm, let's see... why might Obama be averse to removing the political noose the Republicans foolishly tied around their own necks? What's his problem with giving up much of his future leverage for the next deal, and extending a crisis into an election campaign when the GOP will be even more opposed to negotiation than they are today? What's not to like about rewarding the Republicans for redefining their civic duty as a tradeable chit? Why not let foreign investors and creditors know that their longterm concerns will hereafter be dealt with in unpredictable triage fashion? What could go wrong with that?

Gosh, why wouldn't Obama jump at that? It's inexplicable!

Eric said...

Hmmm...interesting analysis. So if Obama vetoes a short-term solution and allows default, Americans will blame the Republicans? Because they refused to raise taxes?

If this catastrophe goes down, Americans will wonder what happened to the One who promised to unite all Americans. Further, they'll be sure to blame Speaker What's-his-name and Senate Majority Leader Who-was-that.

Let's call that awful bluff.

Bram said...

Or, this "catastrophe" goes down - the federal government is shut down - and nobody notices.

People might start to wonder why we have to employee 2 million civilians and why do we need to borrow $1.6 trillion a year.

That, and no gas money for Air Force One would make for a bad campaign year for Obama.

oooooo said...

If you fellas ever poke your head up from the rightwing blogosphere's circular river waterpark ride, you'll notice that Americans are ALREADY blaming the Republicans for this conflict. You may hate Obama and think his style is shtick, but it resonates and it works. And it's not even going to begin to stop working as long as the GOP sticks with their hamfisted death-or-glory approach to everyday governance. So we're talking 2013 at a minimum.

The wider public also supports raising taxes, according to poll after poll.

Obama is getting reelected. The GOP should take the Senate. But if default becomes real and people feel the result, the House flips again. Especially once electable Republican candidates start getting primaried out by the visigoths; you'd have the Senate right now if not for that.

Anonymous said...

"Maybe the debt ceiling was the wrong place to pick a fight, as it related to trying to get our country's house in order. Maybe that was the wrong place to do it."-- Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)

"Our problem is we made a big deal about this for three months... We shouldn't have said that if we didn't mean it... We've got nobody to blame but ourselves."-- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

“As a strategic politician, [Mitch McConnell] sees that the worst place a politician can be is in a room without a door."-- Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)

"You'll probably see the House vote on a couple of things just to make political statements."-- President Barack Obama

"Let's get through that [symbolic July 19] vote, and then we'll make decisions about what will come after it."-- House Speaker John Boehner

Let's call that awful bluff!