Tweet
Reuters now reports that Obama directly told his Republican foes:
I have reached the point where I say enough,” Obama said, according to the [Republican] aide. “Would Ronald Reagan be sitting here? I’ve reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this.”
When someone prefers (political) death to capitulation, her opponent can also choose death or can capitulate.
If only he was on the side of the “lesser people.”
Update
Martin Wolf assesses here the stakes present in the current situation:
These are dangerous times. The US may be on the verge of making among the biggest and least-necessary financial mistakes in world history. The eurozone might be on the verge of a fiscal cum financial crisis that destroys not just the solvency of important countries but even the currency union and, at worst, much of the European project. These times require wisdom and courage among those in charge of our affairs. In the US, utopians of the right are seeking to smash the state that emerged from the 1930s and the second world war. In Europe, politicians are dealing with the legacy of a utopian project which requires a degree of solidarity that their peoples do not feel. How will these clashes between utopia and reality end? In late August, when I return from my break, we may know at least some of the answers.
Wolf’s stated position would commit him to identifying the maximalist Obama as a Right Utopian!
6 Comments
I don’t expect ANYTHING from President Obama except more and more shifting to the right. We need a progressive president to save this nation from those who have hijacked contaminated and stolen our system of govt for their own profit at the expense of us all.
Obama has chosen not to be part of the solution but just part of the problem. I see him as no different than bush, whom he has kept alive in spirit and substance since he has taken the office. It’s like bush went on vacation but never really left. Obama has just been minding the store while he’s been gone but hasn’t changed a darn thing. Except of course.. for some more changes to the right.
republicans raging against obama just helps obama keep the scam going on longer. The scam is.. the republican president obama.. pretends to be a democrat. He collides with the republicans over some big changes to save us from some crisis.. the republicans say NO.. so obama compromises away any substantial gain for the left.. and adopts major changes to the right. then uses the excuse that the party of no is at fault.. then make a new crisis.. screw the left some more while moving to the right.. blaming the repubs..
we have been scammed when it comes to obama.. No intelligent person who loves this country.. would tolerate what these modern day politicians are pushing. DEMOCRATS and REPUBLICANS have two different doors to the slaughterhouse.. but the hallways merge 10 feet from the entrances.. to a common slaughter of anything this country once stood for. The product of this slaughter is profit and power for the ones running the slaughter house. There is only ONE party in the united states.. the WAR profiteering party.. the CORPORATE puppet party.. the FEDS party Wallstreets’ CLOWNS.. Money owns this country.. not voters. When you have electronic voting machines running secret propriatary software (that counts 30% of the vote!) and a media that is more propaganda, misinformation, and lies, than Gobbles was.. YOU DONT HAVE A VOTE.
A great analogy! I wish I had thought of it first!
The title should be ‘Obama goes all in with 2 – 7 Off-suit’. Obama is irrelevant in the Debt Limit debate. He lost all his cards with his Medicare and Social Security capitulation, now he’s playing short stack poker.
Yes, but there are three, not two doors.
DOOR ONE: Democrats
DOOR TWO: Republicans
DOOR THREE: the Rich from both parties
For now Door Three includes the top 20% This means that anyone with an income of $100,000 + can go through that door which leads to Easy Street. However as the Pyramid scheme that we call the USA economy eats more of the base, the dollar amount bar for entry to Door Three will be raised.
By 2025 or sooner, only those currently in the top 5% (the ones who earn more than $180,000 a year) will be allowed to open door three.
Eventually the Pyramid will disintegrate into anarchy. I think probably at the point just before the 5% threshold is reached.
True. I don’t expect the pyramid to disintegrate into anarchy. I expect it sit aside a military dictatorship. I suppose the slum dwellers would experience the country as anarchic.
I do not believe Obama irrelevant in the Debt Limit/Deficit Reduction debate. I believe he’s now in the position he wanted to occupy right from the start of the negotiations. I would rather see Obama for what he is, a system politician and a class warrior. As such, he could care a damn about the “lesser people.”