JONATHAN CHAIT JULY 8, 2011
-
Read Later
READ LATERAvailable only to subscribers. SUBSCRIBE TODAY
-
Listen
ARTICLE AUDIO
- Font Size
Because conservatives won't go for it:
Mr. Obama, seated between Mr. Boehner and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, told the lawmakers he would not sign an interim deal, only one that extended through the 2012 election.
Then he surveyed the eight leaders about their preference for three deals of different sizes — the largest being up to $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade, according to aides briefed on the discussion.
Six of the eight expressed their support for the biggest deal, the aides said. But Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, and Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, favored the midrange $2 trillion, voicing doubts about how they could sell a $4 trillion deal to their rank and file, officials said, since it would involve tax increases.
It's interesting that John Boehner is apparently open to a grand bargain. Maybe, lurking beneath that tanned face and hackish career is the soul of a patriot, or a deficit hawk, or prospective future member of blue ribbon panels. Possibly Boehner's hours of discussions have persuaded him that he must abandon party orthodoxy to address the deficit.
It still doesn't matter. If Eric Cantor doesn't want to pass a budget deal, then the chances of it making it through the House are zero. If Boehner and Cantor and Paul Ryan pushed for a deal, there'd be a chance. But even the medium-sized deal will be hard.
7 comments
Good. Republican idiocy knows no bounds. It might just save President Benedict Obama from himself.
- AaronW
July 8, 2011 at 12:34am
Unnecessarily harsh, aaron. Can you really illustrate some clear cut cases where the President has been treasonous? There are certainly a few where one could make the argument he could have fought harder (although even then I think the "if only he had put his foot down and not caved in" meme has been overstated) but I'm hard pressed to see where he has deliberately betrayed those who elected him. Care to elaborate?
- Tristan
July 8, 2011 at 8:02am
Great. We will default because a combination of Grover Norquist and outright stupidity and ignorance from our Tea Party Freshmen. What a country!
- MikeB.
July 8, 2011 at 8:07am
- As JC concluded, any deal would be tough but Mr. Obama made sure they have to turn down a reduction that dwarfs the radicals original ransom demand. I liked President Obama's latest bid. The "won't happen" part will be clearly up the the opposition: "You want the debt cut? OK, I'll double the decrease (as a giant stack of chips slides to the center of the table.)". And oh, "I'll tell your people that I want to cut $4 Trillion not two and I want to do this now and not make it an election issue next year.". Sure a lot of his folks will be pissed and he may lose some leverage of slamming the GOP on tampering with entitlements. Just a guess but for a few weeks the bond traders will have more influence than Grover. But I don't see anything in the GOP playbook that can outscore him as the clock winds down....
- michaelg
July 8, 2011 at 9:21am
As I wrote (again) here yesterday, Tris, it is easy to run your mouth but it is hard to run a country. The keyboard peckers have it easy. Put them in charge in the White House in the morning and I predict they would be fleeing out the back door by afternoon. Only a clueless ideologue would make a comment like the one you take on here.
- liberalref
July 8, 2011 at 9:27am
Does Obama believe that a big budget deal won't happen? If not, what is it going to take for him to see what a lot of other people see? If so, what is his strategy from here to, say, Labor Day? Is he prepared to use the anticipated crisis (never let one go to waste!)? It has been hard to read what is really going on in the Oval Office.
- aboufade
July 8, 2011 at 11:29am
Y'all better hope the debt limit doesn't get extended and a real crisis is produced now-- with BHO AND the Repubs blamed. And a chance for a real Dem to challenge BHO.. The alternative?? A debt limit agreement that ruins the country economically in 6-12 months with BHO backing of Hooverian economics-- and BHO mostly (appropriately) blamed after he announces the debt limit deal is the "Equivalent of economic peace in our time". The Repubs are playing their card appropriately to elkect a LaRouche Repub (say Bachmann) versus a Reagan Repub aka BHO.
- drofnats1
July 8, 2011 at 1:00pm