Obama has just done what I've wanted the most: He called them out on ignoring the will of the people

[Cannikin]

They now have to respond to this. My faith in him has just been restored a teeny tiny bit.

[Parker CA]

1. He's blasting them hard now. "Time to ignore talk radio. Time to ignore activists" BOOM!

[Poll_Blind]

2. Same here. And he's being honest about how much bullshit his own sacrifices were causing.

But Obama brought part of this on by dealing with them like fucking adults. Seriously, this is crazy shit.

PB

[oldtime dfl_er]

3. Harder, Mr President

PUSH HARDER.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. That's very encouraging.

Hit 'em hard, Obama...

[chelsea0011]

5. Use the bully pulpit!

[BeyondGeography]

6. Finallly

:patriot:

[fishwax]

7. .

:kick:

[localroger]

8. And I think this was always the plan

While people were exploding in outrage at all the stuff Obama was "putting on the table," I think he was putting that stuff on the table knowing it would not be accepted (and with a backup plan to fail to deliver due to Dem opposition in the unlikely even the was wrong about them). He has now given them exactly nothing, exposed them as petulant children, and likely split the GOP down the middle. He is now in a position to gather the Dems and the few responsible Republicans whose fealty to their business masters will prevail if not their fealty to the country, and pass a clean debt ceiling increase with no conditions at all. And this is what he has really wanted from the beginning. The rest was just theatre.

[Cannikin]

9. Exaclty. There strategy made no sense unless this was the plan.

[tallahasseedem]

10. I can't believe that Boehner

flat-out admitted that he rejected it because of the revenue issue. Amazing.

[L0oniX]

11. I call it playing with my future.

[localroger]

12. He can't play for our future without playing with it

This is poker, and while he hasn't won it yet the odds cheat for us viewers has just gone from 60% to 98% in his favor. You cannot win bluff games without risking what you care about. But in this case I think he was very solid in guessing that the Republican teabag mafia would dig in their heels and make a reasonable compromise impossible. Given that, what he has been doing is poisoning their own positions by making them reject their own ideas as unacceptable, knowing there was no danger that any of this would ever either be accepted or passed with the help of his own caucus. This has split the GOP right down the middle and while the verdict hasn't reached us, I would suspect they are uncorking champaigne at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue tonight because the debt ceiling will probably be raised without conditions -- the original goal all along -- and the GOP will be shattered in the process.

[AverageJoe90]

17. I certainly hope you're right, localroger. =)

[KittyWampus]

13. More like being willing to fight to the death. When you're opponent is ruthless and crazed

there are no half measures.

[Marr]

16. When your opponent is ruthless and crazed, you bare your neck to him and close your eyes?

And you trust that he doesn't actually have the guts to go through with it, so you can make him look bad? That's a whole lot of risk for no real reward.

Obama offered them just about everything they wanted, and asked practically nothing in return. The fact that the Republicans turned down his ridiculously lopsided offer speaks to their incoherence and mismanagement, but it certainly does not suggest that Obama is a brilliant strategist.

[Cannikin]

14. This is the approach he used in the beginning when I fawned over him

then it seemed to die away. I felt that heart swell again today.

[Marr]

15. He was frustrated that he didn't get his "grand bargain" today.

That is, they didn't take him up on his offer to cut SS and Medicare in exchange for some magic beans. I fail to see how anyone involved in this charade can be seen as a champion of any people outside of Manhattan.

Honestly, the contortions some people put themselves through to convince themselves that day is night, up is down, and 'I offered cuts to SS' means 'I'd never cut SS' makes me sad.

[Oilwellian]

18. Don't you love the Oilwellianness of it all?

They have many believing the deep cuts in the big three is the "will of the people." It's just priceless.