DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Breaking: White House, Republicans Strike Tentative Deal To Raise Debt Ceiling

**wowwieholmes** · 08-01-2011, 09:38 PM

Yes, and that seems to derive from a few specific points:

-- Obama and Democrats were very naive in the winter of 2010 to assume that incoming extremists on the right would not use this very issue to hold the country hostage. They put off raising the debt ceiling with the belief that it's always been done without much of a fight.
-- Obama recognizes that the choice for most Democrats is to vote for him or stay home. And the likelihood of them staying home shrinks every time Republicans try to shut down Planned Parenthood or overturn Roe V Wade or privatize Social Security or turn Medicare into a voucher system. So he sees an opening to play to the center and even the center-right, because Republicans pretty much abandoned that territory when Tea Party extremists replaced GOP moderates and veered the party hard to the right. That's how he's playing it. He's going after independents who have buyers' remorse over voting GOP last time around.
-- Obama has chosen to play mediator rather than pugilist in these fights. He's tried hard to stay above the fray, but that role has painted him as ineffective to the left, and it's not clear whether he's really winning the center with that ploy.

08-01-2011, 09:38 PM	#10
wowwieholmes Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 516 Senior Member	Yes, and that seems to derive from a few specific points: -- Obama and Democrats were very naive in the winter of 2010 to assume that incoming extremists on the right would not use this very issue to hold the country hostage. They put off raising the debt ceiling with the belief that it's always been done without much of a fight. -- Obama recognizes that the choice for most Democrats is to vote for him or stay home. And the likelihood of them staying home shrinks every time Republicans try to shut down Planned Parenthood or overturn Roe V Wade or privatize Social Security or turn Medicare into a voucher system. So he sees an opening to play to the center and even the center-right, because Republicans pretty much abandoned that territory when Tea Party extremists replaced GOP moderates and veered the party hard to the right. That's how he's playing it. He's going after independents who have buyers' remorse over voting GOP last time around. -- Obama has chosen to play mediator rather than pugilist in these fights. He's tried hard to stay above the fray, but that role has painted him as ineffective to the left, and it's not clear whether he's really winning the center with that ploy.
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