Republicans played dirty tricks on Obama during the "Debt Ceiling Crisis" of 2011. -- This time Republicans are for very painful surprises. Obama does not have reasons to fear the GOP and its arrogance. They were defeated in the November Elections and can not be treated as victors to get the spoils of the battle.
New York Magazine
Obama: No More Debt Ceiling Extortion
By Jonathan Chait
December 5, 2012
Obama: No More Debt Ceiling Extortion
Some excerpts :
Much as they had expected they could win the tax-cut fight by replaying their 2010 strategy of refusing to extend tax cuts for anybody unless the top rates were included, Republicans have been planning to replay their 2011 strategy of using the debt ceiling as a hostage to extract concessions. It worked in 2011 for various reasons that no longer hold true: Obama’s looming reelection made a threat to market stability especially potent, and Obama genuinely believed House Republicans would compromise with him out of a desire to reduce the long-term deficit.
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The unanswered question is how Obama plans to break that habit. One possibility would be to include a reform of the debt ceiling into whatever deal he strikes with Republicans. If no deal is in place by the time the debt ceiling has to rise, probably in February, then Obama will be faced with a choice of exercising a unilateral option to ignore the debt ceiling, either by citing the Fourteenth Amendment or by minting a platinum coin, two options that have relatively strong legal basis. In all likelihood, it won’t come to that, because once January hits, the main impediment to an agreement (the Bush tax cuts for the rich) will be gone, and a deal will be pretty simple to make.
But Republicans are hoping the debt ceiling will give them leverage over Obama in shaping that deal. Obama is suggesting he won’t allow it. I suspect he’s right about that. It’s not 2011 anymore.
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