"Crossfire, and hints of compromise; Talks move to White House; critical vote comes today" by Donovan Slack and Theo Emery, Globe Staff / July 31, 2011
WASHINGTON - Facing an imminent deadline to raise the debt ceiling and avert throwing the nation into an unprecedented default, leaders of the opposing parties appeared to spend more time blasting each other yesterday than on working toward a deal, until late-night negotiations at the White House finally opened up the prospect of a bipartisan compromise.
“We are now fully engaged, the speaker and I, with the one person in America, out of 307 million people, who can sign a bill into law,’’ Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said. “I’m confident and optimistic that we’re going to get an agreement in the very near future and resolve this crisis in the best interests of the American people.’’
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“I think we all know that if the president decides to reach an agreement with us, the Democrats - most of them - will fall in line,’’ said House Speaker John Boehner , Republican of Ohio. “He is the leader of the Democratic Party, he is the president of the United States.’’
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But those hopes seemed dashed early yesterday evening as Reid, a Nevada Democrat, again accused Republicans of blocking progress on a deal and not negotiating in good faith.....
Then the wall went up again.
Grim-faced House Democrats filed into a meeting late yesterday morning to discuss their options....
Here is the nuclear option:
"Law is murky on whether Obama can act on his own" by Globe Staff / July 31, 2011
With just days until the nation hits its debt limit, rattling the American economy, President Obama is under mounting pressure from some members of his own party to invoke an obscure Civil War-era constitutional provision that they say would allow him to unilaterally raise the debt limit.
I am actually for it, too. I think this government should be made to behave just like dictatorship it is.
The notion that the president could cite Section 4 of the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval seemed, just days ago, to be an academic debate, mostly among legal scholars. But now, with Congress deeply divided over a resolution, and the deadline alarmingly near, the idea has taken on a new life in the halls of the Capitol.
Steny H. Hoyer and James E. Clyburn, the second- and third-ranking Democrats in the House, and John Larson and Xavier Becerra, the chairman and cochairman of the House Democratic Caucus, have said they would back Obama if he uses the amendment to avoid a default.
Senator John F. Kerry and Bill Clinton, the former president, have also supported the idea, with Clinton saying he would invoke the amendment “without hesitation and force the courts to stop me.’’
Bill knows how to dicktate!
Others in the party, however, say the move would be politically and legally disastrous, because it could spark divisive court battles and even impeachment proceedings in the GOP-controlled House. Some legal scholars warn that it would be an abuse of power for the president to wield the provision as a means of raising the debt limit.
Ratified during Reconstruction to ensure that the North could overcome potential Southern opposition to paying down Union war debts, it has never been invoked by a president and has rarely been tested in court.
“We shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking the 14th Amendment gives him this authority,’’ said Laurence H. Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor and Obama mentor who was until last year a White House adviser. Nothing in the amendment gives the president the power to trample Congress, which has the sole authority to borrow money, he said. “It’s just a fantasy.’’
Related: Obama's Lost Tribe
Can you be a mentor if they don't listen?
On the other end of the ideological spectrum, John C. Yoo, a former legal adviser to President George W. Bush, agreed that Obama would be on shaky constitutional ground.
“The president doesn’t have the constitutional authority to unilaterally raise the debt limit, and I’m not a shrinking violet on executive power,’’ said Yoo, whose expansive views of presidential power informed controversial memorandums he wrote authorizing the harsh treatment of terrorism suspects.
Yes, the guy who GAVE LEGAL COVER for the WAR CRIMINAL TORTURE is an EXPERT the newspaper turns to for analysis.
“The Framers wanted the president to exercise emergency power in response to national security threats, not over domestic affairs where Congress and the president have had plenty of time to deliberate and figure out a solution,’’ he wrote in an e-mail.
Section 4 of the 14th Amendment states that “the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law . . . shall not be questioned.’’
With the wall up, f*** it. Maybe you can scale it, readers.
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As Obama boehner's the Democrats:
"President veers toward right in bid for debt compromise" by Jackie Calmes, New York Times / July 31, 2011
WASHINGTON - However the debt limit showdown ends, one thing is clear: under pressure from congressional Republicans, President Obama has moved rightward on budget policy, deepening a rift within his party heading into the next election.
Entering into a campaign that is shaping up as an epic clash concerning the parties’ divergent views on the size and role of the federal government, Republicans have changed the terms of the national debate.
Obama, seeking to appeal to the broad swath of independent voters, has adopted the Republicans’ language and in some cases their policies while signaling a willingness to break with liberals on some issues.
I'm sure liberals reading this would say SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW?
And ALL HE CARES about is ANOTHER APPOINTMENT to SERVE as a FRONT MAN so he can continue to live the life of taxpayer-funded perk and privilege!
That has some progressive members of Congress and liberal groups arguing that by not fighting for more stimulus spending, Obama could be left with an economy still producing so few jobs by Election Day that his reelection could be threatened.
Unless Repugs select Bachmann or Palin, then he wins again. Otherwise it's one-term Obama.
Not only would independents be turned off, but Obama risks alienating Democratic voters already disappointed by his escalation of the war in Afghanistan, and by his failure to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, end the Bush-era tax cuts, and enact a government-run health insurance system.
Those thing PISS OFF MORE than DEMOCRATS!
Oh, yeah, STARTING ANOTHER WAR in LIBYA didn't help!
“The activist liberal base will support Obama because they’re terrified of the right wing,’’ said Robert L. Borosage, codirector of the liberal group Campaign for America’s Future.
I'm sick of the false paradigm of politics, sorry.
He added: “But I believe that the voting base of the Democratic Party - young people, single women, African-Americans, Latinos - are going to be so discouraged by this economy and so dismayed unless the president starts to champion a jobs program and take on the Republican Congress that the ability of labor to turn out its vote, the ability of activists to mobilize that vote, is going to be dramatically reduced.’’
Welcome to the pool. It's boiling hot, so be careful.
Obama’s efforts at compromise have pushed the debate firmly to the right. In his failed effort to negotiate a broad budget deal with Republicans, Obama proposed far more in reductions for future years’ spending, including from Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, than he did new revenue from the wealthy and corporations.
But he and his Democrap friends are protecting it for you.
He proposed fewer cuts in military spending and more in health care programs than a bipartisan Senate group that includes one of that chamber’s most conservative Republicans.
That is YOUR DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT!
To win congressional approval of the essential increase in the nation’s borrowing ceiling, Obama sought more in deficit reduction than Republicans did....
And despite unemployment at its highest level in decades, Obama has not fought this year for a big jobs program with billions of dollars for public-works projects, which liberals in his party have sought.
Instead, he wants to extend a temporary payroll tax cut for everyone, since Republicans will support tax cuts, despite studies showing that spending programs are generally the more effective stimulus....
“He’s accommodated himself to the new reality in Washington,’’ said Tom Davis, a former House Republican leader from Virginia. “That’s what leaders do.’’
Related: Bill Hicks on Presidential Agendas
The president’s advisers express confidence that voters will reward Obama....
With a ticket out of town.
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