I like I think the approach some are advocating for an intelligent GOP stratagem re the debt ceiling. Since I find it unlikely [though not impossible] that Obama will pursue either the 14th amendment gambit [way too sketchy] or the trillion dollar coin trick [a gimmick that would not inspire confidence in the marketplace nor look like something befitting a serious man of putative substance] - and since I think republicans have finally figured out that when it comes to ‘negotiations’ the only outcome Obama is interested in is one where he is clearly the winner and you are clearly the loser - given these things it looks like we’re heading towards another fiscal cliff like stalemate and therefore a stratagem by the GOP that allows them in a sense to shut down the gov’t without actually shutting down the gov’t may work. The idea is that if Obama refuses to get real on budget cuts that Boehner offers him the votes he needs to extend the debt limit for 3 months while ‘negotiations’ continue - and the GOP would just keep extending the limit every three months until Obama comes up with some cuts - the effect of that I think would essentially be a de facto shutting down of gov’t that still allows congress to meet it’s obligations.
Might work - certainly better than any of the alternatives I’ve heard of. Problem is as always the media - to win in the end all Obama has to do is appear more reasonable than the republicans [the whole point of the Hagel nomination as far as I’m concerned] - his position doesn’t actually have to be more logical or credible or intelligent or realistic etc etc - he just has to seem reasonable while the GOP seems unreasonable - and Obama has an advantage here that I don’t think any president has ever had, a media willing to sell whatever message he wants sold - the fourth estate and its adjuncts have made it clear that they are not only willing to look the other way while Obama reaches for the cookie jar, they’ll even pry the lid off for him and push the jar closer.
