There is no question that the Obama administration is fundamentally unserious about the types of reforms our country needs, but to date Republicans in Congress have been expressing their intent to use the debt ceiling as a means to secure systemic reforms that could save our country from fiscal collapse. The plan that we are reading reports about today is a serious walk back from that position and would seemingly trade the leverage needed to achieve reforms in return for political gains.◼ McConnell’s proposal: it’s not kabuki, it’s harakiri - neoneocon
If Republicans in Congress believe they cannot strike a real deal with President Obama, they should begin making serious plans to live under the confines of a de facto balanced budget come August 2.
◼ Debt-Limit Harakiri - Mitch McConnell isn't selling out Republicans. - Wall St. Journal
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday he's concluded that no deal to raise the debt ceiling in return for serious spending restraint is possible with President Obama, and who can blame him? We've never thought the debt ceiling was the best leverage for a showdown over the entitlement state, and now it looks like Mr. Obama is trying to use it as a way to blame the GOP for the lousy economy.◼ How Bad Is McConnell’s Debt Plan? So Bad Even Harry Reid Is Praising It… - Politico, but way of weaselzippers
This may have been the President's strategy all along: Take the debt-limit talks behind closed doors, make major spending cuts seem possible in the early days, but then hammer Republicans publicly as the deadline nears for refusing to raise taxes on business and "the rich."
This would explain the President's newly discovered fondness for press conferences, which he has rarely held but now rolls out before negotiating sessions. It would also explain why Mr. Obama's tax demands have escalated as the August 2 deadline nears. Yesterday he played the Grandma Card, telling CBS that seniors may not get their August retirement checks
◼ Obama Two Weeks Ago: I Won’t Engage In “Scare Tactics” — Obama Yesterday: Grandma Might Not Get Her Social Security Check Without A Debt Deal… - weaselzippers
◼ McConnell’s plan confuses the chattering class - Jennifer Rubin/Washington Post
The concept isn’t that hard to understand. 1. McConnell had enough of the phony White House talks. The White House offered a paltry $2 billion in actual, immediate cuts. 2. McConnell gave a speech to make clear that wasn’t enough and that the debt limit would be raised only with real cuts and without tax hikes. 3. McConnell could sit back and wait for default. 4. But he comes up with a mechanism to force Obama to put up cuts, send them to Congress and face “default” if the president’s cuts don't get through. 5. In the process he makes 34 Democratic senators vote over and over again on cuts. (The sound you hear in the background is the conga line at the Senate Republican Committee headquarters.
