Obama gets what he wants politically, which is the only important thing to him: taking the debt and spending off the table during the election.
$2.8 trillion gets him past the election
Everything is wrapped up by December, before the election gets underway.
December offers another opportunity to split off the Tea Party house members from the other Republicans, letting the MSM go to work painting them as extremists. RINOs will vote for any $1.8 trillion in cuts offered by Obama in the “out years” to avoid the Medicare cuts and pushing grandma off a cliff.
What we need is a debt ceiling increase that takes us to Sept-Oct of 2012, and let the issue come up again and let the public decide between Tax Borrow & Spend and Cut Cap & Balance.
In exchange for this he has to own up to across the board cuts. Who cares if he doesn’t get another debt ceiling increase vote. The cuts will be somewhere and the WH will own them. This would take a campaign issue away from the Dems.
I disagree, the whole thing is a distraction from what the 2012 will really be about ... JOBS.
We need to stay focused on that issue, and hand it around Obama’s neck.
That was always going to happen anyway. The furthest Boehner took the 2nd part was up to March.
Looks like the concession to the WH was to bring it back to November. But it's still in 2 parts and now if the discussions don't work there are automatic cuts to Medicare...which is anathema to the Dems.
I'm amazed that Boehner got this much. I think all along the Speaker had way more political capital than the headlines attribed to him.