July 15, 2011

The Debt Limit

By Richard Baehr
I am pretty certain that in the current debate over the debt ceiling and the attempt to reduce the deficit, the President will come out on top. The reason for this is simple- he is the leader of his Party and his side in the debate. What Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid think is irrelevant.  Other than demagoguery about Eric Cantor, they have largely kept their mouths shut.  Obama has the big megaphone, and gets all the networks to break away for his speeches and press conferences. So he can shade every substantive debate his way, and get a large audience for his attempt to frame his side as one that wants to compromise,  behave responsibly,  achieve balance between tax increases on those who can afford to pay more and cutting programs for the needy (in reality, mostly the middle class).  On the GOP side, you have a fight for the nomination going on, so the leaders of the Party are those in the Senate and House.  Here real ideological battles are playing out...(Read Full Article)