US debt deadlock continues as Congress splits over Boehner plan

Comments

[martin sewell]

Can anyone imagine Hillary Clinton or John McCain in this mess?

Obama was the most ideologically Leftist in congress, in his State
Legislature he often voted " present" ( abstain) and is totally
convinced of his own intellectual superiority. It is the perfect storm for
disaster, an arrogant, indecisive, ideologue.

In November he claimed to have learned his lesson after his " shellacking"
in the election, but now only joins the abuse of the very people whose election was
the vehical to tell Washington to stop spending money and kicking the can down
the road, as generations of cowardly legislators have done for years.

My heart is with the Thatcherite instincts of the Tea Party, and they are right
medium term, but I am persuaded by the wise Charles Krauthammer that the
Boemer plan has the merit of avoiding an immediate crisis but putting the issues
on the next election agenda. They must not let the President have the slightest chance of
sharing the blame.

[Ricardo's Ghost]

Come off it Martin, Obama has not been a left-wing ideologue. He's offered up massive cuts in spending, and insisting only on raising tax revenues but not tax rates. Prior to this he allowed the Bush tax cuts to be continued without insisting on a raise in the debt ceiling, and proposed a healthcare package so close to previous Republican ideas Mitt Romney gets credited as the originator. Obama's problem is that far from being an intransigent leftist, he's obsessed by his dream of being a post-partisan President. He always starts off compromised, refuses to confront the GOP head on, refuses to make unreasonable demands, and allows himself to get dragged to the right. The country's problem is that the GOP refuse to accept any Democratic President, and have no interest in governing just using anything they can (including tanking the US and global economies) to increase their chances of winning the next election.

The Republicans (especially in the House) are behaving disgracefully, which is why John McCain called them out last week.

Don't believe me? Read Bruce Bartlett (former economic adviser to Reagan):
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2011/07/22/Barack-Obama-The-Democrats-Richard-Nixon.aspx

[Dawn Carpenter]

My sympathies too are with the Tea Partiers. This vote, however, puts the ball into the court of the Democrat-controlled Senate. It is they who will share the blame with Obama for whatever happens now. Obama has been ideologically leftist since coming to power. The President has more power in foreign than in domestic affairs, and that is where it has been most grievous in its effects. I expect Obama to be a one-term President. He has alienated many of his natural supporters with such policies as the "ObamaCare" health plans and his demand that Israel retreat to indefensible borders which would have left the country, in places, nine miles wide. Now the responsibility for an American default will lie squarely with the Democrats and their leader. Here is an account of the political ramifications of this vote. http://thehill.com/homenews/house/174461-house-passes-revised-boehner-debt-plan-vote

[martin sewell]

DearGhost, can you identify any shift in the President's approach since his electoral defeat? I can't.

He used his rare advantage of majorities in both houses to force through Obamacate in a partisan fashion, this was not the act of a middle roader.

That said, the problem remains that debt grows and middle America favours reducing expenditure rather than raising more tax. That was the message which he continues to ignore.

[Dawn Carpenter]

I wonder if Joe Biden can qualify for ConHome's OTT Award. http://nyp.st/oF79ya If not, we can give it to Neil Kinnock. http://bit.ly/nmBC8ybit.ly/oBVhlf