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Washington’s ‘Blazing Saddles’ moment
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/01/04/washingtons-blazing-saddles-moment/Washington’s ‘Blazing Saddles’ moment
Posted by Greg Sargent on January 4, 2013 at 4:19 pm
I noted earlier today that when it comes down to it, the White House should act as if the debt ceiling is not Obama’s problem, but Congress’ problem. If Congressional Republicans don’t want to raise the debt ceiling, it’s on them.
Walter Dellinger, the former solicitor general under Bill Clinton, emails me his take on why this is true on the substance, never mind the politics. It’s a good one:
I understand why the debt ceiling is a problem. What I don’t understand it why it’s Obama’s problem. The debts that will come due are the debts of the United States, not the debts of Obama family and not even the debts of the executive branch…
If the U.S. defaults on loan obligations because of failure to increase the debt ceiling, every single American would be made somewhat poorer by the dead weight loss to the American economy that this would cause. I don’t see why either political party or either branch of government should gain any leverage by threatening economic harm to the United States of America whose financial management is the mutual responsibility of each of them.
The whole thing reminds me of the great moment in “Blazing Saddles” when Sheriff Bart takes himself hostage by pointing a gun at his own head. The simple townsfolk of Rock Ridge were dumb enough to fall for it. Are we?
If the U.S. defaults on loan obligations because of failure to increase the debt ceiling, every single American would be made somewhat poorer by the dead weight loss to the American economy that this would cause. I don’t see why either political party or either branch of government should gain any leverage by threatening economic harm to the United States of America whose financial management is the mutual responsibility of each of them.
The whole thing reminds me of the great moment in “Blazing Saddles” when Sheriff Bart takes himself hostage by pointing a gun at his own head. The simple townsfolk of Rock Ridge were dumb enough to fall for it. Are we?
snip//
The House GOP is dismissing the White House’s threat not to negotiate. A Boehner spokesman put it this way: “Wishful thinking is not a solution.” Good luck with this. As of today, Judd Gregg, Newt Gingrich, and the Wall Street Journal editorial board have already given up the game and made it clear that there’s no endgame for Republicans in this whole fight.
As Dellinger notes, this is no way to govern a country. I’m still not sure whether — or how — the White House will manage to stick to this approach throughout, but let’s hope so: If Republicans want to force a choice between gutting popular entitlements and destroying the economy, let them sink under it. This is their problem.
10 replies
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If the GOp failed on this one then the public would know that the GOP is a puppet to big money. The banks and others who live for money would be know by the public as puppets. Iceland escaped all the depression by skipping out on the debts of others.
The world would be so much better without debts to drag down everyone. The could be so much GOOD if money was available to be spent for a GOOD cause.
EVIL, HATE, and TERROR would sure be injured if there were HAPPINESS in the world.
