◼ Obama: GOP Hostage-Taking Tactics are Reckless...Unlike My Own, Of Course - Guy Benson/TownHall
Obama said he's "tempted" sign House-passed bills that would fund Head Start, FEMA, the FDA, NIH, and the like, but he can't. (As a sidenote, he's already done so once during this skirmish, and he's backing another piecemeal bill). Why not? The key quote:
"But here's the problem. What you've seen are bills that come up where Republicans are feeling political pressure, and they but a bill forward. And if there's no political heat, if there's no television story on it, then nothing happens."In other words, Obama won't sign popular, widely-supported funding measures to help alleviate the effects of the shutdown because if he did, the "heat" and "pressure" on Republicans would evaporate. Which sounds an awful lot like hostage taking. He is holding popular appropriations hostage to getting the whole government funded within his preferred parameters. That's politics as usual. But he can't sit on his high horse about Republicans' terrible, horrible tactics when he's essentially doing the exact same thing. He says he'll negotiate with GOP leaders after they accede to his requests. Fine, but what incentive would he have to budge in the future when his refusal to budge while the heat is hottest has contributed to the current shutdown? And why should Republicans trust him to compromise in good faith later, when they'll hold fewer cards?
...our truth-to-power titans in the White House press corps couldn't muster one question on these cynical actions specifically designed to inflict pain on the very citizens the government exists to "serve."
