Douthat's patience with the GOP begins to wear thin. Chait predicts continued stalemate:
The most rational explanation for Obama's speech [last night] is that he's positioning himself for failure. He's explaining his position so that when Congress fails to lift the debt ceiling, Americans will blame the Republicans and not him. Maybe in the meantime some small deal can arise. But I expect a week from now we'll be bracing for disaster.
Political Prof differs:
In a negotiation between people who insist that “we must do this or the universe will come to a crashing end,” and people who insist “I don’t care,” you can be pretty sure that the people who claim “I don’t care” will get either everything they want that’s needed to purchase their concern, or absolutely nothing will happen.
The Dish 