We confess, we don't fully understand all the foofaraw, currently roiling Washington and Wall Street, about the nation's debt ceiling. Analysts and pundits regularly trot out the explanation that the debt ceiling is roughly equivalent to a credit limit; hitting the ceiling is akin to maxing out one's Visa. The major difference being that, when our country hits its debt ceiling, apparently all it has to do is vote itself a credit increase. Try THAT with American Express! ("Uh, yeah, I'm at Saks Fifth Avenue, and my card's been declined. I don't understand. I voted myself an extra $5,000 credit line before I left the house.")
In other words, the debt ceiling is ultimately symbolic. People fear all manner of financial catastrophe should the US default on its debts, and for all we know, they may be right. Even if catastrophe occurs, though, it seems that the powers-that-be would simply need to say, "OK, you got us, we'll raise the debt limit." Catastrophe eliminated.
Today's entry, though, is not about the debt limit, as such, but about the latest maneuver to solve the problem.
Despite the best (?) efforts of President Obama and Joe Biden and John Boehner and Eric Cantor, it's looking more and more like Congress will fail to pass legislation raising the debt ceiling before August 2 (financial D-Day). Rather than accept failure, though, the Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R.-KY--the state, not the sexual lubricant), has proposed that Congress essentially empower President Obama to raise the debt limit himself--without, as many Republicans have demanded, presenting a plan for offsetting spending cuts. Congress would then vote on the President's proposal. While they could still certainly vote against raising the limit, the President would then presumably just veto that action, after which it is unlikely that Congress would muster the votes to overturn the veto. Both the White House and the Speaker of the House have expressed interest in this plan.
So, let's get this straight: The leaders of the Republican Party, who have essentially spent the last two years vituperating about how Barack Obama was a closet socialist dictator bent on increasing his power and unilaterally imposing his will on the country--these same people are now considering a plan whereby they would. . . increase Barack Obama's power and allow him to unilaterally impose his will on the country?
At the risk of eliciting a ear-splitting "Duh!": Do these people stand for anything?!? We understand McConnell's motivation: He knows he and Boehner can't corral the most vocal members of their right-wing majority to support any sort of compromises with the anti-Christ Obama. Fearing for his and his fellow Republican's electoral prospects if they become known as a party willing to sacrifice national well-being for ideological purity, McConnell wants to wash his hands of the whole thing: Let Obama take the heat. Not that Obama will face much heat for raising the debt ceiling, as those most opposed to such action would be unlikely to vote for Obama anyway. But still, what's the point of even having a separate legislature if they are so scared of electoral consequences that they abdicate their responsibilities to, y'know, legislate--at least about anything more controversial than, say, naming a national flower or passing non-binding resolutions to declare that corn dogs are tasty?
What's so bad about being voted out of office, anyway? You become a highly paid lobbyist, a Sunday-morning talk-show pontificator, or a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars." Maybe all three. And if you're voted out of office because you actually took a stand on something, maybe you do all three of those things without that gut-gnawing sense of shame and missed opportunities.
Do your job, McConnell. Do your job, and face the consequences.
Is it any wonder Congress is held in contempt?
Solipsistography
"Debt Talk Mired, Leader for G.O.P. Proposes Option"
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