With Republicans
leaking their ransom note for raising the debt limit and House Speaker John Boehner
saying his party won't raise the debt limit unless the president agrees to their terms, President Obama offered a simple response today during a speech in Maryland:
I will not negotiate on anything when it comes to the full faith and credit of the United States of America.
Obama said Republicans were engaged in an unprecedented effort to "threaten default" simply in order to "blackmail a president into giving them concessions" on completely unrelated policy items. "We're not going to submit this kind of total irresponsibility," the president said.
Congress needs to pay out bills on time. Congress needs to pass a budget on time. Congress needs to put an end to governing from crisis to crisis. Our focus as a country should be on creating new jobs and growing our economy and helping young people learn, and restoring security for hard-working middle-class families.
President Obama even offered Republicans a bit of friendly advice on how they can continue their quest to get rid of Obamacare:
If Republicans do not like the law, they can go through the regular channels and processes to try to change it. That's why we have elections.
To be fair to Republicans, I'm pretty sure they realize that President Obama is right about that. Their problem is simply that they just keep on losing, which is exactly what they are going to keep on doing as long as they keep this up.
Sign our petition thanking President Obama for refusing to negotiate with Republicans over the full faith and credit of the United States, and urging him to stay strong.