Monday, July 11, 2011

Obama Rules Out Short-Term Debt Solution

The "eat our peas" line is memorable, at the end of the clip, and discussed at Memeorandum.

And at LAT, "At news conference, Obama portrays himself as compromiser in chief":

President Obama says he will not sign a three- to six-month bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling, and instead is calling on Republicans to set aside politics and agree on a long-term compromise before the country hits the debt limit Aug. 2.

The administration is not making contingency plans in the event that Congress won't vote to raise the debt ceiling in time, Obama told reporters Monday morning, predicting during a news conference that "we are going to get this done" before the deadline.

As leaders prepared for an afternoon meeting on the issue at the White House, Obama pledged to bring Republicans and Democrats together "every single day" until they work out an agreement to avert a credit default with a plan on debt and deficit reduction.

Republicans have been saying for months that it's a "moral imperative" for the president and Congress to tackle debts and deficits, Obama said, arguing that he has moved toward their position in hopes of working out a compromise.

"What I've said to them is, 'Let's go,'" Obama said. Such a deal would let Americans know "this town can actually do something once in a while."
Progressives love to talk about Republican "hostage taking" on the budget, but in fact the administration's dishonesty on negotiations is practically criminal. See Yuval Levin, at National Review, "A Raw Deal" (via Memeorandum).

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