How I Hope Obama Doesn’t Negotiate Debt Ceiling

by paradox

I’m fragile at Christmas, right, and after the fiscal cliff negotiations—which Digby of Hullabaloo accurately described as experiencing a political death march of Bataan—I’m in a lousy political space. The President used his weekly radio address to reiterate that there will absolutely no negotiating over the debt ceiling this morning and I’m willing to take on good faith this path will be rigorously adhered to in the next 60 days, the precious sanity from DC will be good for me.

I hope the President and the Administration understands that this statement of fine resolution and clarity is not an opening bid of any kind, there seems to be some tacit DC understanding that previous statements about never-to-be-crossed income taxation lines were of course just tactics, if you took the President literally oh well, too bad for you.

[places palms together] I am a realist Machiavellian, okay, there’s never any need to lecture me about devious ruthless tactics, but flatly stating something will never happen and then actually doing it ten days later barely, if ever, is justified and then only under the most extreme circumstances. Income taxation levels don’t cut it, and using it for the debt ceiling never will. What’s done is done, fine, but going forward I fervently hope the White House understands with nuclear clarity it can never back out of this flat declaration.

Senator Schumer said there will be no debt ceiling negotiating yesterday—it means nothing, since previous inviolate statements from Reid and Biden were tossed to the winds days before—but the important element in my mind was the total admission that negotiating previously on the debt ceiling was a mistake. Politicians—especially Senators—rarely admit mistakes, the previous history on this issue is screamingly important, we’d never be here now if we hadn’t negotiated in 2011.

What’s done is done, I know, but I hope Schumer and Obama also realize folks make mistakes with their checkbooks. Negotiating the debt ceiling was a vast miscalculation of almost comical proportions from professionals who damn well should have known better and have led the country through a Christmas political Bataan death march, Jesus, no, it’s not a good idea to make that “mistake” again.

Still, the truth is very much noted and appreciated, Senator Schumer. Thank you.

There’s a slight DC stir today that Newt Gingrich came out against the GOP holding the country hostage with the debt ceiling. If I had to guess I think Newt totally sees forcing the issue paints the GOP as the radicals they are, there will be no way to hide it, it will crush the GOP in 2014 and 2016.

John Cole of Balloon Juice reports the wingnuts are rabidly ready for a debt ceiling fight, happy with possible cuts and pushing around the liberals. Given the history of previous successful hostage taking and inviolate lines in the sand that have vanished they have good reason to believe a fight is coming on and are looking forward to it.

I hope the President realizes this too, around 80 House members are political loons, reason and rationality will not work, things could get seriously ugly before it finally ends. At least this time there will be no getting along, no working together, no being above it all. There’s zero political risk here in standing firm, even Newt Gingrich sees it. Perhaps the promised land of bipartisanship will arrive someday, but it will not with the debt ceiling.

I’m going to the gym and then watching the NFL playoffs. If I was overly negative or hostile I’m sorry. There will never be any negotiations over the debt ceiling, better days are ahead for all of us.