"Obama's position is as brittle as it is rigid. It's true that some polls suggest the public is more inclined to blame congressional Republicans than the president if the dispute remains unresolved and the results are disastrous. But Obama would have to be delusional to think that presiding over such a disaster would enhance his re-election prospects."

"Eight days before a much-dreaded reckoning that will come if they cannot agree on how to deal with the federal government's burgeoning debt, three principal players in Washington's latest drama produced a day of dueling speeches, press conferences, and budget blueprints. When the performances were concluded, an agreement seemed only slightly more likely than before -- and the nation's fiscal future as clear as mud."

"Barack Obama was in full-scold mode Friday night, summoning Congressional leaders to the White House to 'explain to me how it is that we are going to avoid default.' It's a terrific question, albeit one the President refuses to answer. He remains far more interested in maneuvering to blame a default or credit downgrade on Republicans than in making himself part of any plausible solution to a crisis he insists is imminent. ...  

"... [I]t has long been clear that Mr. Obama isn't interested in spending reform. In February he proposed a budget that spent more than any in U.S. history. In April he demanded that Congress pass a 'clean' debt ceiling hike that included no spending cuts whatsoever. Only after House Republicans unveiled their own sweeping budgetary reforms did the White House rush to also claim it wanted deficit reduction as part of the debt-ceiling debate."

"Ask almost any Democrat to explain why high taxes are bad, and you will get hit with the velvet fog, minus the velvet. First they’ll explain that while they do favor 'increasing revenues,' they don’t favor higher taxes if by 'high taxes' you mean taxes that are 'too high.' They favor 'smart' tax rates that are 'targeted' (i.e., 'higher'). Then they’ll explain that they don't want to raise your taxes; they want to raise taxes on your boss, your employer, and the companies that sell you gas, cars, cigarettes, food, clothes, electricity, and various 'unnecessary' surgical procedures. They leave out that those taxes get passed on to you. 

"Then, they’ll rush to safer territory: all of the wonderful things government does. Government, don’t you know, is just the word we use for all the things we do together. So every time you cut a check to the IRS, an angel gets its wings."

"A new analysis of federal workforce data shows that even in this time of retrenchment and downsizing, the federal government almost never fires or lays off workers.  In fact, in many corners of the federal government, it is virtually impossible for an employee to be fired. 'Federal employees' job security is so great that workers in many agencies are more likely to die of natural causes than get laid off or fired,' writes USA Today, which conducted the survey.

"The paper reports the federal government 'fired 0.55% of its workers in the budget year that ended September 30.'  For the private sector, the figure is about 3%.  And for some parts of the federal workforce, the firing rate was even lower.  For example, USA Today found that federal workers in the Washington, DC area have 99.74% job security.  Some agencies, like the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, did not fire or lay off anyone in the last year."

"Remember pay-as-you-go legislation? Passed to offset the cost of increased spending and reduced revenues, it exists in name only to both parties. The so-called 'debt ceiling' is a similar abstraction. It reminds me of my biyearly 'weight ceiling' pledge -- as in, there is none. Any ceiling that is always raised and then set as some new arbitrary level that is negotiated solely by the ones who are borrowing ... well, that doesn't comport to any definition of 'limit.' That's a federal budget."

"The president, we are told, is a pragmatist for wanting a 'fair and balanced' budget deal. What that means is tax increases must accompany spending cuts. Any significant spending cuts would be way in the future. The tax increases would begin right after Obama is reelected. 

"Now keep in mind that tax hikes (or what the administration calls 'revenue increases') are Obama's idee fixe. He campaigned on raising taxes for millionaires and billionaires (defined in the small print as people making more than $200,000 a year or couples making $250,000)."

"Mainstream media have pummeled Republicans for pushing spending cuts and refusing to support tax increases in connection with raising the debt limit.

"But Republicans had a mandate from the voters in November 2010 to advance such policies. In contrast, it's not at all clear that voters in November 2008 gave Obama and the Democrats a mandate to increase non-defense discretionary spending by 24 percent (84 percent if you count the stimulus package) in 2009 and 2010.

"In negotiations on the debt limit, Obama has fenced off several programs from any cuts at all. One is Obamacare, even though majorities in polls continue to favor its repeal.

"Another is, astonishingly, the $53 billion he wants to spend on high-speed rail projects. To call high-speed rail a 'boondoggle,' as does House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, is to engage in considerable understatement."

"Whether or not he accepts this reality, Obama owns this economy and the alarming explosion of the debt in recent years. He is the one whose reckless policies have greatly exacerbated our dire financial condition. He is the one whose unconscionably wasteful and irresponsible economic policies have tanked the economy and suppressed employment. He is the one who, along with his party, has not presented a budget in 800 days. He is the one who formed a bipartisan deficit commission and then ignored its findings. He is the one who hasn't presented a concrete budgetary plan. He is the one who refuses to reform entitlements despite objective evidence that if we don't, the nation will go belly up. Yet he is the one who is pointing all the fingers of blame against the Republicans as if they were the culprits.

"Republicans, choose your spokesman (Rep. Paul Ryan would be a good choice), and call daily pressers to make your case instead of always ceding that turf to Obama. In charge of the purse, you have every bit as much right to speak out on fiscal matters as does Obama. Then begin passing your reform bills over and over again, forcing the Democratic Senate and Obama to reject them. It's time that the president and party who are "creating the mess" were put back on their heels and exposed for their wanton fiscal destruction."

"The president is now calling for a 'big' deal that would reduce the debt by $4 tillion over ten years, while we'll borrow more than a third of that this year. In fact, over those ten years, we are expected to run up more than $13 trillion in new debt.

"It's also important to remember that the president is not offering $4 trillion in spending cuts. The deal he has proposed includes more than $1 trillion in tax hikes. Another $1 trillion is assumed savings on interest payments. Thus, what is really on the table is barely $2 trillion in actual spending reductions. What the president is really offering is closer to $2 in spending reductions for every $1 in tax hikes, not the 4:1 ratio reported by the media. Moreover, that is over ten years, meaning the cuts would actually be just $200 billion per year. We will pay more than that this year in interest on what we have already borrowed."