“The bottom line”
by digby
So the president said this to the Business Roundtable on September 18th. Not that he hasn’t said it before (during the campaign he was much more vague calling it “a balanced approach”) but it’s probably important to recognize that he’s still saying it:
So here’s where we are — and I think this is the bottom line, and I want to make sure everybody is clear here. I have presented a budget that deals with — continues to deal with our deficit effectively. I am prepared to work with Democrats and Republicans to deal with our long-term entitlement issues. And I am prepared to look at priorities that the Republicans think we should be promoting and priorities that they think we should be — we shouldn’t be promoting. So I’m happy to negotiate with them around the budget, just as I’ve done in the past.
What I will not do is to create a habit, a pattern, whereby the full faith and credit of the United States ends up being a bargaining chip to set policy. It’s irresponsible. The last time we did this in 2011, we had negative growth at a time when the recovery was just trying to take off. And it would fundamentally change how American government functions.
He’s right about not creating a habit or a pattern of bargaining with the debt ceiling. Thi is simply unsustainable. But once he says he’ll deal, and they agree to take what he’s offering, it’s just a matter of timing the announcement isn’t it?
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