This is the use of the bully pulpit:
President Barack Obama told CBS News' Scott Pelley Tuesday that he cannot guarantee that Social Security checks will go out as planned if Democrats and Republicans fail to reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling by August 2.
"I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3 if we haven't resolved this issue, because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Obama said in an interview scheduled to air on the CBS Evening News Tuesday evening.
"This is not just a matter of Social Security checks," Obama said. "These are veterans checks, these are folks on disability and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out."
See that? That's the stuff. Upping the ante. Using the office from a position of strength. By sending out word through two important elements of the body politic, seniors and veterans, the President is daring the Republicans to cut money off to both groups. That's how its done. That is called presidential leadership.
Because of his wide executive discretion in this area, the President could choose to pay Social Security and veterans benefits, and just cut off defense contractors and other federal contractors. Him threatening to do it this way is a move to rile up a broad swath of the electorate. Voters who vote in both parties. That is how you combine the power of the office with the megaphone. He can pick and choose who to piss off and where to point the finger. By picking these folks, he can capitalize of the GOP's bluffing and force them to fold or pay up. Either way, he benefits politically with gambits like this. 70 million missing checks = 70 million voters pissed off at Republicans.
Yep. Its definitely hardball. It isn't mature "adult in the room" politics. Its tough politics and it works. I don't care if youre a Republican or Democratic senior or veteran, a check being cut off is serious business. Its the good kind of fearmongering a serious politician uses when needed. It is especially needed when you're up against the kind of psychopaths that make up the Republican Party.
Better late than never, but what if last year the President had followed this bit of advice advocating the exact same sort of tactic:
What if the President issued a directive to the IRS to send "guidance" letters out to every single taxpayer informing them that next year, temporary tax cuts approved by former President Bush will expire.? That would give people time to plan accordingly. The IRS could provide taxpayers with some sort of table they can use to quickly compute how much they are going to owe. Make it clear that the expiration of the Bush temporary tax cuts could impact your 2010 tax refund.
This idea followed the exact same logic as the President's move in this debt ceiling game: up the ante on a bluffer. By forcing the GOP to deal with the political fallout of the expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts on the middle class, he would have not needed to surrender to the tax cuts on the rich, which would have kept him much further from the revenue crisis we find ourselves in now. Armando presciently noted this at the time. If the tax cuts did expire due to the Republican defense of the rich, the public would know exactly who to blame for smaller paychecks. Just as they'll know who to blame if they don't get their social security and veterans checks.
In short, a president has to play politics. Always. Its a political job, for crissakes. If you have to play, you may as well play to win.