As near as I can tell, the Republicans pretended to offer Obama a choice

[hedgehog]

between beginning to dismantle Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid or stopping all the checks next Tuesday.

Then, when he decided that cutting programs was better than seeing the entire economy crash, talking heads accused Obama of playing games because of course everyone knew that the Republicans wouldn't take yes for an answer.

Today I was reminded that part of the reason we're in this mess is that Moody's. Standard and Poor's, et. al. threatened to downgrade our credit rating unless we cut the deficit to their
liking. Say what you will about the Tea Party Congressmen, at least those jerks were elected by someone. Who the hell put the rating firms in charge?

I'm rambling here, but more and more I get a picture of Obama attempting to negotiate with nihilists who'd almost prefer taking down the entire economy and the government with it.

[arcane1]

1. Take it down, then buy the scraps for pennies on the dollar

That's usually how it works :(

[damntexdem]

2. They offered him a choice: submit or die.

And he wants to compromise between the two. ;-)

[hedgehog]

3. I think the "choice" they gave him was submit and die.