How Felix Salmon understands it:
The #mintthecoin meme has successfully migrated from the outer reaches of the econoblogosphere into a fair amount of mainstream media coverage, and as a result it has actually started to be taken seriously outside the Beltway. And even, in a few cases, inside the Beltway too. But be clear, this is absolutely a media-driven meme: people talking about it are not talking about an actual political proposal which an important number of serious DC politicians genuinely want to implement. As I say, it’s a Flying Spaghetti Monster thing — it’s a ticklish thought experiment, nothing more. Many media organizations are having a lot of fun with it, and that’s their right. But, especially in this case, it’s important not to mistake media coverage for reality.
Douthat imagines "what would actually happen if the president was understood to be taking the 'mint the coin' option seriously":
Those Republicans in Congress who believe that they’re justified in risking chaos in order to combat the White House’s fiscal irresponsibility would have their hand immeasurably strengthened. The internal pressure on the Republican leadership not to cut a deal with the coin-minting tyrant Obama would be be ratcheted significantly higher. And public opinion, which currently favors Obama and the Democrats and regards Congressional Republicans as the more irresponsible party in these negotiations, would probably tilt sharply the other way, essentially validating Republican intransigence.
In other words, a White House that played the coin card in negotiations would be answering threats to sabotage the nation’s credit with a threat to … massively sabotage its own political position.
The Dish 