And not a very welcome trial balloon at that:
If Republicans maintain their opposition to revenue increases, [Bill] Clinton said, Obama should pursue a short-term deal to extend the debt ceiling based on spending cuts both sides have already accepted in the negotiations between the administration and Congressional leaders from both parties.So if the GOP refuses to give us anything, we should give them something for free, just make it smaller. And so on, and so on, and so on...
How is this winning? Strike that. How is this not losing?
So let's just keep cutting spending in the near terms, instead of pushing for another stimulus - i.e., let's do what the GOP wants instead of what the country needs - guaranteeing that economic growth will slow some more, and unemployment might even increase some more, in the months before the 2012 elections, thus risking a GOP win in the White House and the Senate.
But it will look like the President is a great conciliator. I'm sure that will be great comfort when he's retired back in Chicago in 2013 and the Republican Congress along with the Republican White House repeals health care reform.
