McConnell and Cantor Save Obama From Himself

Things were looking very bleak. Obama had put Social Security and Medicare cuts on the table, and was pushing for 4 trillion dollars of austerity. The logical assumption was that this deal would get done, because when a Democrat gives you an offer that accomplishes what Republicans have been trying to do for decades, they'd have to accept it, right?

WRONG.

First, Eric Cantor leaves the talks because they might include tax increases, and then goes nuclear on the negotiations by leaking the details to the press. While liberals were watching these talks go on in horror, there is littereally nothing we could have done to further damage the long term viability of these negotiations than what Eric Cantor did. Absolute genious.

Second, Mitch McConnell finally feels enough heat from Wall Street to pave the way for the Debt ceiling to be raise... with no deal at all!

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has proposed creating an escape hatch for Congressional Republicans, who have put themselves in a box by threatening not to raise the national debt limit if Democrats don't agree to trillions of dollars in cuts to popular social programs.

The plan is designed to give President Obama the power to raise the debt limit on his own through the end of his first term, but to force Democrats to take a series of votes on the debt limit in the months leading up to the election. This would stave off the threat of defaulting on national obligations, but keep the charged issues of debt and spending at the center of political debate for months.

The development confirms suspicions that the GOP was unwilling to truly use the looming debt ceiling as leverage to force conservative-friendly changes to popular entitlement programs, but suggests strongly that Republicans plan to continue politicking on fiscal issues through the 2012 elections.

In what he described as a "last-choice option," McConnell proposed a method by which the country could avoid default if debt negotiations led by President Obama fail to produce a grand bargain on debt reduction in the days ahead.

Facing serious cuts from Obama, this proposal is an absolute gift from the heavens. It basically allows the senate republicans to say bad things about Obama and the deficit multiple times in the run up to the election (Oooohhhh scary! Like they we're going to do that anyway!), in exchange for raising the debt ceiling and no cuts.

It's hard to think of the proper comparison, but what happened here is truely remarkable. Through absolutely no doing of the left, this potentially democratic coalition breaking deal was taken off the table, with a very easy and painless solution to the problem put in it's place.

So thank you Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell! It wasn't your intention, but you saved us from trillions in austerity, benefit cuts to social security and medicare which cripple Democrats in the next election and potentially fracture the party for decades!

Fucking incredible. Just when you think all is lost, two complete and utter assholes save the day.