Ignoring This Morning's Headlines on Debt Talks

Both the WSJ and the UT had headlines on the collapse of the debt ceiling talks. I'm glad that I have learned not to accept the headlines as the real news anymore. Temple of Mut has a great summary of how it has been Obama who sabotaged the talks by suddenly demanding more revenue out of the deal. HotAir provides similar analysis.

Bottom line, Obama is posturing because he is nervous that his base will be deeply disillusioned with the direction he was taking, and he needed an excuse to ask for more. In the end, both sides are still talking. Obama has more to lose than Boehner, because even if something disastrous happened, both sides will get blamed, even if the blame tilts more to Republicans. Boehner has a far better chance to still be Speaker in 2o13 than Obama is of being President that year, if a deal isn't reached. That Obama is pulling childish maneuvers is a sign that he is actually negotiating poorly. The joker in the deck is Reid. He is unlikely to be Senate Majority leader under any scenario. However, what gives him the best shot, might be a deal that takes a way Republican ability to nationalize Senate races next year. This is why I am pretty sure something will get done.

I think that we should take a moment to bask in the media blame of the tea party for this crisis. Two years ago, their seemed to be a consensus of Keynesian business as usual, just pile on more debt and spending to get out of the recession. In just two years our movement has completely changed the nature of the dialog about government. The size of spending cuts, not the amount of government growth are now the topic of debate. Reforming government pensions is on the table from sea to shining sea. (Sign the San Diego pension reform petition today at 10675 Scripps Poway Pkwy from 11-3.) Pretty good work for a movement with no official leaders, no official organizations, no political party, and not even an official ideologist.