I wrote a diary this morning upset that President Obama was going to cave on the debt ceiling. It was based on a Wall Street Journal article. Since it was the rec list, but now has fallen off, I want to correct the record. I was wrong.
[A] bunch of people -- myself included -- jumped on a Wall Street Journal report this morning claiming that the White House is open to a deal on the debt ceiling. But as Steve Benen aptly notes, the report was very thinly sourced, if at all, and was a bad basis for a freak-out.
Indeed, in the briefing, Carney seemed to deny the report, reiterating that the White House doesn't want any link between the debt ceiling vote and the GOP's demand for deeper spending cuts. "We don't believe that there should be a link between efforts to address our long term deficit problem and the imperative of raising the debt ceiling," Carney said.
In other words, the White House line is the same today as it was yesterday as it was last week.
Greg Sargent
I'm glad I was wrong. I probably gave too much credence to the report because of past acts, but it was thinly sourced and from the WSJ. It would have been better to look for verification before publishing my diary, which was a very emotional diary.
Let's wait and see what the President says and go on from there.
Greg Sargent is right:
In other words, we don’t know what Obama has in mind. As The Post reports today, “letting others take the lead on complex problems has become a hallmark of the Obama presidency.” But it’s also a hallmark of the Obama presidency for him to step in just when such chatter is at its peak and articulate a vision that, by his lights, represents the best of what others contributed to the debate while he waited in the wings. So we'll see.
Greg Sargent
I wanted to admit my error and set the record straight. It is important to be fact based and admit errors when they happen.