Yes, indeed. The President's call today at his press conference for a bipartisan compromise on raising the debt ceiling really put the Republicans on the defensive. About time, is what I say. After all, how can Boehner and McConnell slink away from such a Presidential challenge.
McConnell thinks that raising the ante by insisting onno debt increase without cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits will make the President blink.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warned on Friday that GOP senators will not vote to increase the government's borrowing limit unless President Barack Obama agrees to rein in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, laying down a high-stakes marker just weeks before the debt ceiling is reached.
But at today's presser, President Obama showed up the Republicans by drawing that line between the absurdly large amount of budget cuts the Republicans want to raise the debt ceiling and the relatively tiny budget cuts the Democrats are proposing. McConnell thinks he can get the President to erase his line in the sand on budget cuts.
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It's a good thing President Obama didn't say that he would not let the Republicans hold the US economy hostage to reducing or eliminating social programs people need to dig out of a devastating recession. Had he done that, the Republicans would not be willing to deal at all.
It's a good thing the President didn't call out the Republicans for insisting on extension of tax cuts for the richest and then wanting to take the crumbs away from the poor and middle class. Fortunately, he's a pragmatist and sees that this would only harden the Republicans' position and there'd be no room to draw that line in the sand.
It's a good thing President Obama didn't risk letting the blame for halting government fall on the Republicans. That's not an adult thing to do and it would only show he's way too foolhardy and reckless. That would be bad news for the 2012 election.
Now is not the time for the President to be harsh on the Republicans what with the Chamber of Commerce in his corner and Wall Street eating out of his hand to avoid more of the onerous regulation he's already imposed. But it's a real treat to see him goad McConnell into raising the stakes and forcing McConnell to again move that goal post further away from a compromise position. That goal post should be getting pretty heavy by now. Ya think?