I just read a post by Ezra Klein at his Wonkblog that assures us that President Obama will not be blinking in the current impasse with Republicans. According to Klein, the White House thinks that Republicans are playing Calvinball, a game where the rules are constantly changing.
I have been a big fan of Ezra Klein for quite some time because he always does a great job of explaining what's going on in a way that is easy to understand. The post goes through the steps that brought us to the point we are at now, and then concludes:
The White House has decided that they can't govern effectively if the House Republicans can keep playing Calvinball. The rules and promises Boehner makes are not their problem, they've decided. They're not going to save him. And that also rules out unusual solutions like minting a platinum coin or declaring the debt limit unconstitutional. The White House doesn't want to break the law (and possibly spark a financial crisis) in order to save Boehner from breaking a promise he never should have made.
Top administration officials say that President Obama feels as strongly about this fight as he has about anything in his presidency. He believes that he will be handing his successor a fatally weakened office, and handing the American people an unacceptable risk of future financial crises, if he breaks, or even bends, in the face of Republican demands. And so the White House says that their position is simple, and it will not change: They will not negotiate over substantive policy issues until Republicans end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling.
How the White House sees the shutdown (and debt ceiling!) fight
[Emphasis added]
There is a bit of humor in the post if you look closely at the image included of President Obama and Boehner talking. In very tiny letters it is captioned "This part comes later."
As a diary on the Recommended List indicates, Boehner has already blinked and Klein has another post about the response from Boehner's office about that report:
I asked Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel, about the report. “Speaker Boehner has always said that the United States will not default on its debt, but if we're going to raise the debt limit, we need to deal with the drivers of our debt and deficits," he e-mailed. "That’s why we need a bill with cuts and reforms to get our economy moving again."
That's what they call a non-denial denial. And it speaks to a deep problem Boehner's team has never quite figured out how to resolve. On the one hand, Boehner has always said he won't allow the United States to default. On the other hand, he's also always said that he won't pass a clean debt-ceiling bill.
Imagine a bank robber who swears no hostages will be harmed under any circumstances but also says no one gets out alive if his demands aren't met. That's more or less Boehner's position.
Did John Boehner just end the debt-ceiling fight?