The editors of the WSJ more or less make the point I did yesterday: What's the end game of the intransigence play? Since President Obama regards the Affordable Care Act as the signature achievement of his presidency, his threat to be uncompromising on at least that question is a lot more credible than the Republican threat to cling to the Hastert Rule no matter how bad the political -- and GOP donor -- reaction might be. Credibility being the key to victory in any game of chicken, it is therefore difficult to see how this ends with anything other than Speaker Boehner waiving the Hastert Rule and allowing a vote on a continuing resolution even if he cannot get the support of a majority of Republicans. When that happens, the only question will be whether the GOP caucus tosses Boehner from the Speaker's chair and elects somebody less, er, accommodating. Smart Democrats would give Boehner something with which to save face to prevent just such an eventuality, but Harry Reid seems to be calling the shots and he is playing for the House in 2014. So, back to the Tea Party with the friendly reminder that hope is not a strategy: What's the end game?
If I had an exit strategy--and I would--I certainly wouldn't reveal it yet.
ReplyDeleteRight now the Republicans are harassing Obama. They're "running out the clock" until the 2014 general election. The more they can distract him, the more they can prevent damage from his leftist agenda in other areas.
Will any of this have a big impact on the results in next year's election? I doubt it. A year is a long time in politics.
Humorist and social commentator Will Rogers (1879-1935) said, "I tell you folks, all politics is apple sauce [nonsense]." This is just another round of nonsense.
- DEC (Jungle Trader)
So far, the government "shutdown" has shown Obama's Chicken Little cries of disaster to be akin to his Chicken Little cries of disaster over the sequester--wholly and foolishly without foundation. Which may be contributing to the more sedate bleating that Obama and his have been doing on this one.
ReplyDeleteIt's also demonstrating the mendaciousness of the Obama and his Dems over their demands to fund the government all at once, but they refuse to fund it useful parts at a time--sort of like the 11 separate appropriations bills that more traditionally fund the government useful parts at a time--just bigger parts.
Where it'll get interesting is with the debt ceiling and Obama's preemptive mantra of "I won't negotiate." One of President Barack Obama's reasons for refusing to negotiate centers on his premise that the debt ceiling is about existing debt obligations, not future ones. He's right, in a limited way. What he chooses to elide in that, though, is that existing debt exists because of past spending exceeding past revenues.
Of course spending reductions need to be part of the present debt ceiling raise negotiations—that's the only way to reduce/eliminate future borrowing (and on the side, to reduce/eliminate the need for future debt ceiling raises).
And that's why he refuses to negotiate. He still has a credit card and checks in the checkbook. With money plainly still in the bank, there's nothing to negotiate.
Eric Nines
[sigh]
DeleteThat should be "Eric Hines." I still can't find a keyboard that produces what I mean, instead of blindly aping what I type.
Eric Hines
We knew who you were, Eric.
DeleteIn baseball Ty Cobb holds the record for highest career batting average with .366. Nobody hits the ball every time.
- DEC (Jungle Trader)
Everyone knows they are ready to cave. They are defeated. Plan accordingly.
ReplyDelete