Robert Reich: Obama’s debt ceiling strategy hinges on GOP sanity

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/obamas_debt_ceiling_strategy_hinges_on_gop_sanity/

Obama’s debt ceiling strategy hinges on GOP sanity
The president is gambling that Republicans will bow to public pressure to reach a deal. It might not be a safe bet
By Robert Reich,


snip//

So it must be that he’s counting on public pressure — especially from the GOP’s patrons on Wall Street and big business — to force Republicans into submission.

That’s probably the reason for the unexpected news conference, coming at least a month before the nation is likely to have difficulty paying its bills.

The timing may be right. President is riding a wave of post-election popularity. Gallup shows him with a 56 percent approval rating, the highest in three years.

snip//

But Obama’s strategy depends on there being enough sane voices left in the GOP to influence others. That’s far from clear.

Just moments after the President’s Tuesday news conference, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called on the President to get “serious about spending,” adding that “the debt limit is the perfect time for it.”

And House Speaker John Boehner said “the American people do not support raising the debt ceiling without reducing government spending at the same time.”

The 2012 election has shaken the GOP, as have the post-fiscal cliff polls. Yet the Republican Party may not care what a majority of Americans thinks. The survival of individual members depends on primary victories, not general elections — and their likely primary competitors are more to the right than they are.

[Scuba]

1. "The president is gambling that Republicans will bow to public pressure ..." Nope ....

.... he's confident the oligarchs who own the Republicans will order them to cave rather than see all their investments go in the shitter.

[babylonsister]

4. Hey, that works for me. Whatever it takes. nt

[LiberalFighter]

6. It would help if campaign finances dried up for them as a warning.

[SoCalMusicLover]

2. Mr. Reich Is Absolutely Correct

I believe the repubs in the House have already made their decision.

I really think that they are prepared to shut down the government.

[hopemountain]

3. he's setting up the gop to do what they do best

sabotage themselves. if they continue behaving like petulant 2 year olds and refuse to raise the debt ceiling heap..the negative outcomes will be on them...not that they give a damn.

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. *I l0ove this ...

And House Speaker John Boehner said “the American people do not support raising the debt ceiling without reducing government spending at the same time.”

Followed by:

The 2012 election has shaken the GOP, as have the post-fiscal cliff polls. Yet the Republican Party may not care what a majority of Americans thinks.

And then, an exact paraphrase (can you have one of those?) of what Boehner said earlier:

The survival of individual members depends on primary victories, not general elections — and their likely primary competitors are more to the right than they are.

[Cha]

8. Raise the debt ceiling and cancel boner's salary and health benefits along

with all those who are threatening Seniors.

[bemildred]

7. The President is an intelligent man and he knows they are not "reality based".

It is rare that I disagree with Mr. Reich, but I do here. If they shut down the government, we will get our supermajority in 2014. If they don't, we won't have to listen to this bullshit forever, and something might actually get done.

[kairos12]

9. Reich's Logic is Faulty

Sanity to the Tea Thugs is to destroy the government from the inside. They want a dog-eat-dog, your-on-your-own society. They are totally connected to the Disaster Capitalism idea. Destroy the government and let the privatization begin.

Any "moderate" Repub faces a primary from the right in 2014 so the Tea Thug agenda wins out. Consequently, moderation has left the building.