Speaking of the liberal critique of Obama’s debt-limit showdown strategy, Mother Jones‘ Kevin Drum concludes that it misses the fundamental point:
I think it’s now finally time to stop pretending that Obama has miscalculated, or blundered, or been out-negotiated, or somehow forced into a bad position. Rather, everything he’s done for at least the past six months is consistent with the idea that he considers the long-term deficit a problem, he wants to address it, and he views the debt ceiling talks as an ideal opportunity to do so with bipartisan cover. Obama isn’t doing this because he has to. He’s doing it because he wants to.
Drum also adds this, which I suspect is the view that prevails at the White House:
Like it or not, the sad fact is that Obama doesn’t need us. We’re mostly going to vote for him regardless of what he does, and he’s going to get all the money and organization he needs without us. Lefties simply don’t have much leverage these days.
Obama might add that, when it comes to the debt talks, the President doesn’t have much leverage, either.
