Barack Obama: I'm selling my house for $400,000.Jonathan Chait writes an interesting piece titled "I want to play poker with Obama," in which he quotes a WSJ article that, fair enough, isn't sourced with regards to this tidbit:
Me: I want it for free.
Obama: How about $350,000?
Me: I want it for free.
Obama: $300,000?
Me: I'll hold my breath until I pass out and die unless you give it to me for free.
Obama: I couldn't bear watching you hold your breath. $200,000 is my final offer, even though my mortgage is $250,000.
Me: Ok.
Obama: Isn't compromise wonderful.
Me: I've changed my mind...
White House officials have opened the door to a deal with Republicans that would allow the U.S. to increase its ability to borrow, potentially easing worries in financial markets that the country might default on its debt.And maybe it's not true. But does anyone doubt President Obama would say/do something like this? No. More Chait:
Softening the administration's earlier insistence that Congress raise the so-called debt ceiling without conditions, officials now say they won't rule out linking an increase of the borrowing cap with cuts aimed at reducing the deficit—even though they'd prefer to keep the issues separate.
I really cannot believe the administration is preemptively conceding this. If the House Republicans are not only able to hold up as bargaining chips things that Obama wants but also things they want too, then the Obama administration will have vastly less power then normal presidents, even presidents without control of one house in Congress.
The pattern has been ongoing since last summer, when Republicans got to take the position that they favored an extension of the Bush tax cuts on income below $250,000, as did Obama, but they needed concessions in the form of rich people-only tax cuts, or else they'd block the tax cuts they claimed to favor. Democrats let them pull this off. Then they said they opposed a government shutdown, but needed concessions to keep from shutting down the government. Now the same with the debt ceiling.
There's a massive weakness in this position that Democrats have not tried to exploit. Republicans are winning leverage by communicating their willingness to do something really unpopular, but they are communicating this inside Washington without having to communicate it outside Washington. If Obama insists he will only sign a clean debt limit bill, and will negotiate budget changes as part of the budget, what do Republicans do? They become solely responsible for the consequences of refusing to raise the debt ceiling. Let them go explain that to their business backers.
Instead they can tell their business backers that the debt ceiling will get raised, and they're just using it to win spending cuts. And the administration is going to give it to them. It's pathetic.
