Now that the House has passed the three month suspense of the debt limit, it is safe to say President Obama won this standoff. The original Republican position was that any debt limit increase had to be accompanied by spending cuts. Obama said he would not negotiate this time and wanted a debt limit increase [...]

President Obama’s deficit speech may be viewed as the moment the Obama administration fully pivots away from trying to reach bipartisan compromise, to instead focusing on winning 2012 by bashing the Republican Party. The first half of President Obama’s first term was marked by an obsession with reaching bipartisan compromise. Obama wasted an absurd amount [...]

One of the biggest battles over raising the debt ceiling at this moment seems to be whether any debt ceiling increase will last until after November 2012 or will it require another vote on the debt limit before the election. Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) plan would require the debt ceiling to be raised again in [...]

Last night the Republicans offered to do a short term increase of the debt ceiling to prevent default and President Obama angrily dismissed it, according to the Huffington Post: At issue was Cantor’s repeated push to do a short-term resolution and Obama’s insistence that he would not accept one. “Eric, don’t call my bluff. I’m [...]

The White House has been trying to maneuver everyone into reach a big austerity deal, but I simply can’t see Obama carrying out his short term veto threat unless the administration had been lying other aspects of the debt ceiling issue.

Several months ago when Republicans first made it clear they were planning to hold the debt ceiling hostage many wanted President Obama to issue a veto threat. Obama could have done this while still maintaining the deficit hawk image he so desperately craves with a statement like: I would happy work on a bipartisan basis [...]