President Obama invokes the 14th Amendment. And everybody wins.
Obama: Gets to play the responsible grown-up fed up with a typically dithering Congress, which–let’s face it–is probably his best role. Gets to raise the debt ceiling without having to cave and/or chop Social Security and Medicare. Puts the Tea Party in its place and makes the Republicans look like chumps for squandering what little leverage they had. Bulletproofs himself from potential impeachment by saying, “Somebody had to do something other than argue.”
Republicans: Paint Obama as a man who’s willing to circumvent the process, thus creating an even more partisan 2012 election. Show the far right that the president doesn’t really care about responsible government finances. Escape the crisis without having to raise taxes on wealthy corporations or multimillionaires.
Democrats: Get to be the party that saved the economy and can take credit for any recovery in the next year or so. Can (somewhat truthfully) paint the Republicans as obstructionists who were willing to steer the country into the ditch for a few more votes in Arizona. Can avoid cutting social insurance programs, which they’ve been defending…oh, about forever.
America: Doesn’t face a massive interest-rate hike and/or crazy economic fluctuation. Hopefully, finally, mercifully gets galvanized for a national third-party movement. Gets to vote a lot of House members out next November for taking us right to the fucking brink.
Posted on July 28, 2011
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