Obama is willing to do ANYTHING!

[boston bean]

Anything, just so the debt ceiling debate won't be an issue in 2012. He thinks we'll forget, or have NO PLACE ELSE TO GO!

It is as SIMPLE AS THAT.

He really thinks the debt/deficit is more of an issue than SS and Medicare.

What a stupid strategy!

And if it's not a stupid strategy what else is it. Craven politics? Something he really believes in??

None of the options I think of for his actions are favorable.

[still_one]

1. Is there some news? This hasn't played itself out yet, unless you are just speculating /nt

[harun]

2. Don't you think it is telling that Obama hasn't come out and said

"Default will hurt the war effort."

This would put an end to the bickering. Instead they come out and say "Default could hold up Social Security benefits."

Open your eyes and ears.

[still_one]

5. I tell you what I have heard, every plan the Democrats have offered has been rejected by the repukes

Reid just offerred 2.4 trillion cuts, no revenue increase, and Bloomberg reported it was rejected by the house repukes

To me the solution is simple, offer an up or down vote to increase the debt limit, let the bush tax cuts expire, and expose the tyranny of the repukes, including their repsonsibility for why the country is in the situation it is in today, through trickle down economics, and reversing regulation that had been in place since the Greate Depression

[boston bean]

9. Obama is still pushing for a grand deal. Reid and Pelosi have been floating

spending cuts for promise of tax increase sometime in the future.

This is a bleak picture...

[still_one]

13. I agree it is bleak, and if Social Security and Medicare is put on the table, I will have problems

supporting an administration that agrees to that.

However, the repukes have also shown their true colors in this fiasco

I also believe that "grand deal", is over, ironically because both Congressional Democrats or tea party members won't accept it

[harun]

24. If Obama came out and said to the House Repub's send me a debt

increase or all funding of the wars stops, our overseas bases will be closed and all defense contracts will be unfunded this would be over in less than 30 seconds.

[boston bean]

3. wait and see, that is what you are proposing? No thanks!

I've watched enough politics in my life to have a pretty good understanding of what is going on.

I'll speak my piece anytime I feel like it. Ok?

[still_one]

6. I was just asking if this was speculation or something you heard. So sorry to offend your highness

[piratefish08]

17. with every offered plan worse the the one before, where the fuck do people think this

could be headed?

an 11th hour miracle?

[ThomWV]

4. I am pleased to see other Democrats are coming to see what a dud he is.

A dud is a firecracker that your bring to life by lighting it up, but then it sets there and fizzles, almost but never actually doing anything its promises held.

[mmonk]

7. He wants the bipartisan deal at any cost and the republicans

want no deal at any cost. The right move is for Obama to take any of the outs proposed, no matter how short term. But that doesn't seem in him.

[thereismore]

8. Do you think any action on the debt could be done next year?! You are dreaming. Obama is right

in one thing for sure: get it done so there is no drama before the 2012 elections.

[boston bean]

10. you are willing to have SS and Medicare cuts so Obama doesn't have to deal with the debt

ceiling during an election cycle?

at least you're honest.

[thereismore]

25. Oh Jeez. No. I am only talking about the 2012 aspect of it. nt

[sabrina 1]

22. So, starve the elderly, cut benefits for the disabled, raise the

medicare age and cut medicaid for the poorest of the sick, just so one politician has an easier time getting reelected?

If he does any of this, I think I can say with confidence, he will wish that the debt ceiling is all he has to worry about.

But to even suggest these policies, to be honest, I don't know what to say anymore.

[thereismore]

26. Likewise, Jeez. No. I was talking about the 2012 aspect. nt

[loyalsister]

27. One politician?

You've got to be kidding. If it were just him it would have been easy. But he actually gives a damn about the rest of the Democratic caucus. He knows that losing more would be even more damaging and the republicans themselves have opened a way to neutralize the tea party and we may possibly even gain some seats.

[sabrina 1]

28. Again, willing to starve the elderly, harm the disabled, dependent

children, the most vulnerable, for political reasons?? That is an outrage.

If this president did not think he could handle this job he should not have taken it. And right now, in order to save the people from the 'enemy' and yes I view anyone who is threatening to cut benefits for the most vulnerable Americans as the 'enemy', this president needs to fire his DLC advisers and start fighting for the American people. Otherwise WE the people will get a Republican administration in 2012.

If you are worried about keeping Dems in office, then the worst way to try to do that is to harm the American people's most vulnerabe population.

Not only would it be criminal, it is the very worst kind of politics. Even Repubs know better than to cut benefits and some are already denying they are doing it.

[loyalsister]

29. Lots of assumptions flying around

It's tempting to believe that if I and my group don't vote for him no one else will either, but that it not reality. I have watched these things play out up close in state politics walked away from conversations angry but discovered in the end that some strategies work.
The debt is issue that is being used for fear mongering. Some democrats are using the proposals for changes the very same way.
We do not know all of the facts. Conclusions drawn from a myriad of "statements" that should be taken with a grain of salt.

Does anyone have details and numbers that accurately represent the assertions of what kind of doomsday will come about if this deal is made? I have not seen any details.

I question the doomsday outlook on raising the age for when medicare kicks in. Does that mean that the age for when their health plan CHANGES or is supplemented?

As for means testing, I resented it when my millionaire uncle collected SS on top of what was coming in from the law practice that bore his name.

[mcar]

11. And the repukes are willing to do anything

ANYTHING to make sure it is an issue in 2012. Interesting that this is paraphrasing what the Republican Speaker of the House said yesterday.

Who's trying to make this an election issue again? :eyes:

[Mojorabbit]

12. I can only guess that he is being told

that not to get this done will throw the global economy into a tailspin. Nothing else makes any sense.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bragi]

14. White House incompetence here is stunning

It's really hard to imagine how the Obama administration could have done a worse job in dealing with this matter.

The issue is now totally GOP-framed, there is NO progressive solution likely, there will be serious losses in terms of SS, and the stage is set for Obama to suffer the political consequences.

I'm not sure how Obama could have done worse on this.

[Bake]

15. TIME'S UP!

The Pukes have done it. They've succeeded in doing nothing.

We're all fucked. I can't believe they have disobeyed their Corporate Wall St. masters.

Bake

[gratuitous]

16. If the Republicans can't take "yes" for an answer

Obama is prepared to say "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes" in pursuit of his "historic" budget grand bargain of trial balloon transparency so we can drown it in a bathtub and step 3: Profit!

[lonestarnot]

18. What bullshit!

[Renew Deal]

19. So let the Dems in the Senate vote against it.

If they vote for it, is it still Obama's fault? :shrug:

[boston bean]

20. YES!

[Renew Deal]

21. The answer probably is yes, but...

People do a lot of bitching about Obama when Pelosi, Reid, the House and Senate have gone along with everything.

[kickysnana]

30. Except use 14th Amendment for a clean debt ceiling raise. And therein lies the rub. n/t