I am watching the Dec. 7th, 2010 Press conference and thinking about how that played out in comparison to how the debt. ceiling debate has progressed so far.
And I have a bad feeling...
I have kept up as well as I could with the debt ceiling battle. I haven't read everything out there yet this feels so similar to how things have played out in Dec. 2010 with the two year extension of the Bush tax cuts.
Again the president says he supports a very different approach but is willing to deal with the "hostage takers", even consider the perspectives of those republicans who have "boxed themselves in" with their campaign pledges, in trying to draft an agreement with John Boehner.
President Obama said in December 2010, "This is not a situation where I have failed to persuade the American People of the rightness of our position".
So now, citing the same rationale, you are willing to reduce Medicare and Social Security to get to a deal? Will that help you get elected next year? Will that help other democrats who join you on voting for it? Is that what you really believe is the right thing to do even if it weren't tied to raising the debt ceiling?
I think he fails to see how no limit to how far you are willing to compromise both pours cold water on the fire of your support, and sets a terrible precedent for future negotiations.
There was this telling exchange with Chuck Todd in December, which I think is very interesting to read now:
Q If I may follow, aren’t you telegraphing, though, a negotiating strategy of how the Republicans can beat you in negotiations all the way through the next year because they can just stick to their guns, stay united, be unwilling to budge -- to use your words -- and force you to capitulate?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think so. And the reason is because this is a very unique circumstance. This is a situation in which tens of millions of people would be directly damaged and immediately damaged, and at a time when the economy is just about to recover.
Now, keep in mind, I’ve just gone through two years, Chuck, where the rap on me was I was too stubborn and wasn’t willing to budge on a whole bunch of issues -- including, by the way, health care where everybody here was writing about how, despite public opinion and despite this and despite that, somehow the guy is going to bulldoze his way through this thing.
I wonder if the republicans all gathered after the December 7th, 2010 presser and collectively realized. "You see that? He's willing to vote against what he believes in, even what most Americans want, if it gets a deal."
If you have time watch this again.
And imagine him inserting this line at 20:52 or just about any other time: "and when I can't persuade the Republicans, I am willing to support legislation against what I know is right, against what polls show a majority of Americans support, and I am willing to yield to make sure we reach some kind of agreement to save the hostages."
Maybe that's a little harsh, but this presidency feels more and more like a course in hostage situation management than leading a country forward. Will he dare to pen the same kind of speeches in the fall of 2012?
The last couple days seem to be the calm before the storm and I think the chances this ends with something democrats will be largely content with is pretty small. Maybe Obama will surprise us and refuse to bend. I am not betting on it.