FDL: To End the Debt Ceiling Crisis, Reagan and Clinton Would Have Invoked the 14th

To End Debt Ceiling Crisis, Reagan and Clinton Would’ve Invoked the 14th


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....when children throw temper tantrums, grown-ups put them in timeout — they don’t appease them with candy.

The President seems to hold Ronald Reagan in esteem, but it’s very difficult to imagine Reagan allowing a Democratic House to hold the government hostage for months on end and threaten to send the US economy over a cliff. I’m not saying I admire Reagan for firing the air traffic controllers, or that it was the right thing to do, but he acted decisively and had public opinion on his side. And in doing so, he advanced an ideological goal of his party.

Bill Clinton, who is on record as saying he’d invoke the 14th, did not cave when Gingrich threw his temper tantrum – and the public rewarded him with a second term. He, too, made his stand on ideological grounds.

As with the case of the health care bill and the stimulus, Obama has allowed Congress to dictate the terms — and neither turned out well. Of course, this manufactured debt ceiling crisis is worse, since he’s allowed the opposing party to do so, even though they control only the House. In effect, he’s made the Tea Party caucus of the House the de facto president....

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http://firedoglake.com/


Granted, it's difficult to prove a counterfactual, but it appears Obama had other options. Also, there's no ideology involved in refusing to entertain proposals to "save" Social Security or Medicare, just a grasp of how those programs work and acknowledgement that Social Security is not connected to the debt or deficit.

FDL -- I'm shocked. That's out of the box for them.

Of course, if he does it, it'll be 'the executive tap-dancing on the Constitution'.

Just so long as Obama takes a hit.

They would just love to see President Obama impeached! :puke:

Now fdl is calling out.......Ronald Reagan and bash President Obama when he mentions Reagan!:crazy:

Sid

:scared: :scared: :scared:

g

;)

There's no way he would have EVER even come close to putting SS and Medicare ON THE TABLE....like BO has done.

Neither of those those 2 would have found themselves in this position so for anyone to state what they would do so definitively is not a reasonable comment. Odd that Clinton is now painted by many as being both more liberal than he actually was during his presidency and more fearless than Pres. Obama. His policies were as centrist as Obama and though I agreed with many of his policies I haven't forgotten that some were quite conservative. I don't know if Clinton would have put SS and Medicare on the table and neither does anyone else. We ALL know though that he put Medicaid on the table which in my opinion is equal to or maybe even worse than giving up changes to SS and Medicare. That fact though doesn't help the argument from those who wish to paint him in a different and better light than Obama.

I only go back to Reagan though. I've never seen anything like this.

Not sure what you think he can or should do different given the current make up of the House and Senate but you're entitled to your opinion.

more than Obama.

I forget. It seems to shift according to the argument of the moment.

Whitewater, accusing him of murder and drug dealing. It was more over the top.

What I expect of the president is to fight. I don't necessarily expect him to win.

that should be the very absolute last resort just prior to defaulting.

faced this problem. ReTHUGS publicly stated that their sole aim is to make Obama fail.

"Unfortunately, Congress consistently brings the Government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the Federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations. It means we have a well-earned reputation for reliability and credibility -- two things that set us apart from much of the world."

He could not get a clean debt ceiling bill from a Democratic congress in 1987 and default was threatened. http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1987/092687a.htm