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Debt Ceiling
Aug. 1st, 2011 09:08 amI suppose I should say something profound about the debt ceiling crisis, so here are my profound thoughts, in stream-of-consciousness order:
1) Yes, this was a manufactured crisis, and Republican hostage-taking on a grand scale. It was the equivalent of buying a ton of stuff on a credit card and then refusing to pay the bill.
2) No, this is not the first nor the last hostage to be taken.
3) As somebody said, "hostage crises aren't won, they are resolved."
4) If your dealing with a hostage-taker that's willing to commit suicide (and we are), if you can't get them into an position where they can safely self-destruct, sometimes you give them what they want.
5) Yes, the deal is somewhat of a shit sandwich. See all the points above.
6) Although we can all whine about how "Obama got rolled" the simple fact of the matter is that raising the debt ceiling requires an act of Congress (literally). Obama, Reid, Pelosi and even Mister Orange himself John Boehner can only do so much. All the talk of a "14th Amendment option" was BS. Congress authorizes the budget, and there is nothing in the Constitution preventing Congress from being stupid.
ETA 7) Obama won the PR battle. That was not the critical battle. As I said earlier, people were (and are) pressuring Congress for a more balanced approach. But in the end, see point #4, above.
The bottom line is that if you don't like the deal, put somebody else in Congress.
1) Yes, this was a manufactured crisis, and Republican hostage-taking on a grand scale. It was the equivalent of buying a ton of stuff on a credit card and then refusing to pay the bill.
2) No, this is not the first nor the last hostage to be taken.
3) As somebody said, "hostage crises aren't won, they are resolved."
4) If your dealing with a hostage-taker that's willing to commit suicide (and we are), if you can't get them into an position where they can safely self-destruct, sometimes you give them what they want.
5) Yes, the deal is somewhat of a shit sandwich. See all the points above.
6) Although we can all whine about how "Obama got rolled" the simple fact of the matter is that raising the debt ceiling requires an act of Congress (literally). Obama, Reid, Pelosi and even Mister Orange himself John Boehner can only do so much. All the talk of a "14th Amendment option" was BS. Congress authorizes the budget, and there is nothing in the Constitution preventing Congress from being stupid.
ETA 7) Obama won the PR battle. That was not the critical battle. As I said earlier, people were (and are) pressuring Congress for a more balanced approach. But in the end, see point #4, above.
The bottom line is that if you don't like the deal, put somebody else in Congress.
