Republicans are putting forward the option of a short-term increase of the debt ceiling, which would renew the contentious debate early in 2012. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) says the president will have no choice but to sign such a bill if he wants to avoid catastrophe. Sounds like blackmail to me.
Republicans probably believe that continuing the debate in 2012 would be to their advantage in an election year — and they may be right. But it’s more likely the scheme will backfire because more and more Americans seem to be getting wise to the right-wing tactics to politicize this crucial economic issue.
President Obama seems to have a legitimate way out of this mess, as I wrote in a previous post, but NBC’s Andrea Mitchell raised a good point on this morning’s Meet the Press. She said no other industrialized nation has a debt ceiling, and she wonders why we do. Created by statute in 1917, it can just as easily be un-created. But Republicans wouldn’t go for that because it gives them frequent opportunities to distract everyone from problems typically of their making.
Liberal Buzz 