by Patrick Appel
Yesterday Josh Marshall asked why Obama doesn't tell the public what will happen if the debt ceiling isn't raised:
It seems quite clear to me that if what was coming in early August was an immediate 50% cut in Social Security payments and/or a similar cut in salaries to members of the military and a lot else that the tenor of this whole conversation would be quite different. And if this all sounds hyperbolic, where exactly do you think the money is going to come from if there's no deal?
Obama subsequently did as Marshall suggested and said he can't "guarantee that those [Social Security and veteran's] checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue." Kevin Drum ponders Obama's strategy:
[W]henever you think Obama has done something dumb or weakminded or inexplicable, remind yourself that he doesn't necessarily have the same goals as you. He sincerely wants a deal that involves concessions from both sides, and once you understand that his actions will suddenly seem a lot less dumb, weakminded, and inexplicable. In fact, they'll seem pretty obvious.
If Obama had tried to strong-arm the GOP into taking a deal from the start, it's likely they would have simply hunkered down further; their base is heavily anti-compromise afterall.
In other debt-ceiling news, Ezra Klein decodes Mitch McConnell's backup plan.
The Dish 