I was hoping for a "barn burner" of a speech from BO last night BUT

[Raven]

what I got was a man treating me like an adult and explaining like a professor in fairly simple terms the situation this country is in. I also got a man who was pretty civil and diplomatic in his references to John Boehner and the repubs. Then I listened to John Boehner. Last night I saw a gentleman and a thug in prime time...couldn't have been clearer. NOW I want the gentleman who gave us OBL in a body bag to take the gloves off and not back down.

[Tennessee Gal]

1. What would you have him do?

Would have him threaten a veto that might make the country default?

[Enrique]

2. issue a veto threat

and if the republicans don't raise the debt ceiling, invoke the 14th amendment to prevent a default.

[Raven]

4. Yes, that's an option. That's the Obama who gave us OBL in a bag.

[Doctor Hurt]

5. bad idea

do that and your remove any pressure on congress to pass a debt ceiling hike. You don't say you're going to use the 14th amendment. You say you're not going to. Then you do it when congress fails to act.

[Enrique]

6. i'll go with that

issue the veto threat to try to get a good deal, but don't talk yet about the 14th amendment. :thumbsup:

[Raven]

7. I agree. It's called giving them enough rope...n/t

[karynnj]

9. Excellent - as doing it then realli is using it as a last resort and with the

country's overwhelming support, I would guess.

[Raven]

3. He's already threatened a veto. I think he needs to keep talking

to the American people...every day this week. I think that we are down to one basic issue now and that is whether we raise the ceiling in one step or two. Obama needs to make people understand how dangerous the 2 step process will be to the economy. The more Obama talks the clearer the difference is between him and the thugs.

[Bake]

11. He's going to HAVE to veto. Because that's all Congress is going to give him.

Congress ... i.e., the Teabag House, is only going to give him something he has no choice but to veto. Then, in their tiny little minds, they can blame him.

But he'll have to veto it. August 2 will come and go before Congress pulls its head out of its collective ass. There will be at least one missed Social Security payment. And there will be hell to pay.

Bake

[lunatica]

8. I think we saw him take off the gloves in last night's speech

President Obama strikes me as the kind of person who gets even quieter and speaks more softly when he gets down to the fight. I've always thought he's inscrutable. None of us really what he's really thinking. Look how he told jokes like he didn't have a worry in the world at some dinner while overseeing and ordering the death of Bin Laden at the same time. He did the same thing with the Somali pirates that were killed. He actually gave them the order to kill the pirates at the time.

[OnionPatch]

10. I have to say

that I liked his speech and he said pretty much what I thought he should say even though I've been pretty critical of him lately.

So I will give him kudos for his speech, because I think he finally used the bully pulpit like he should be doing, but I'll be watching to see if he actually walks the walk or if he's going to bend over once more. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Brigid]

12. After last night's speech . . .

People have been writing letters and crashing their representative's websites. I hope this causes. Obama to develop a taste for the bully pulpit and that he'll start using it more.

[robcon]

13. When he said the words 'debt ceiling' was unknown outisde of Washington, I was insulted.

He didn't treat us like adults - he talked down to us, IMO.

No one is more of an Obama supporter than me, but I was disappointed.