What Could Obama Have Done Differently?

Jonathan Bernstein doubts the president could have avoided a debt ceiling standoff:

I'm not at all convinced that Obama has done a good job bargaining over the budget so far this year, but I'm not convinced he's done a bad job, either. Mainly, I'm just not convinced it matters much, except on the spin and public relations side, where in my view he's doing just fine. As I've been saying, I really do think that liberals are not taking seriously enough just how wacky the U.S. House majority is right now, and how little ability anyone has to do anything about it. I agree with those who say that the exception — maybe — is the business community. If they put pressure on the House to be reasonable, then we'll get a deal. If not, and perhaps even if they do, we're not going to get one.

Andrew Sprung pushes back. And Ezra Klein throws out some other counterfactuals.