Kuttner: How Obama could play a winning hand

[Armstead]

Obama Holds the Cards -- If He Will Play Them Well
By Robert Kuttner

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/obama-holds-the-cards-if-_b_908190.html

Excerpt:
...At some point this week, stock and bond markets will begin to start swooning, and the usual wise guys will begin making high-risk bets at the expense of financial stability as a whole. Credit rating agencies, which should be accorded zero credibility after their role in causing the financial collapse by blessing junk sub-prime securities as Triple-A, could start downgrading the debt of the United States. And then things will get really interesting. The President of the United States will be revealed to be holding more of the cards -- if he has the nerve to start playing his hand well (for a change)....

......At that point, there are only two basic choices. Either the Republicans and the White House agree to some kind of short- or medium-term increase in the debt ceiling, in exchange for some kind of deal with details to be supplied later. Or the president invokes the 14th Amendment and declares that the debts of the United States will be paid.
So then we are left with the president's powers under the 14th Amendment, an approach that Obama seemed to rule out last week, but may need to come back to....

If President Obama were to invoke that emergency authority to prevent the economy from collapsing as money markets began shunning U.S. government bonds, it is hard to imagine Republican leaders suing the president... to demand what? That he let the economy go off a cliff? And it is even harder to imagine the Supreme Court, even a Court as partisan and corrupted as the Roberts Court, voting to tie Obama's hands in an economic emergency that -- keep in mind -- is entirely contrived.

Obama, the Great Conciliator, finally showed a bit of irritation and a bit of spine this past week. It would be perverse of him to reward Republican intransigence by agreeing to an 11th hour deal that, by definition, would have to be on almost entirely Republican terms to be approved by the Tea-Party besotted House of Representatives. Better to show some leadership in an emergency, invoke the 14th Amendment, calm money markets, and leave the Republicans sputtering mad. Obama might even come to enjoy exercising leadership.

[polichick]

1. Well, that would be change I can believe in!

[murielm99]

2. Obama might even come to enjoy exercising

leadership.

I'll believe it when I see it.

[AndyTiedye]

3. The Supreme Court Will Not Allow a Democratic President That Power

They will make another one of their non-precedent-setting rulings (like Bush v. Gore) to prevent it.

[polichick]

6. That's likely imo.

[Amonester]

8. And suddenly throw the entire world to the sharks...

I bet even them wouldn't like to realize how many millions of people would suddenly point their finger at them...

Not that I believe they wouldn't be too stupid to 'foresee' what their 'future' would look like...

[Armstead]

10. THeir corporate masters won't let the SC tank the economy

[polichick]

11. Good point! :)

[DrToast]

The 14th Ammendment won't help much

Who is going to want to buy bonds that may be deemed illegal? Interest rates on new debt would still soar to compensate for this risk.

[CakeGrrl]

4. Unrec.

The thread title is just a cover excuse to deliver more of the 'spineless'/'capitulator'/'caver' meme.

[Armstead]

9. Hahahahahs

Some people complain that other people (like me) never post anything constructive or at least offering positive ideas for what Obama might do.

Then when we do, it's castigated as just another excuse to bash.

Love it.

OKay, just to make you happy --Whatever President Obama does in this, and whatever the result, he will be right. It will be brilliant, whatever it is.

[greymattermom]

5. pay debts first

He should promise to pay all debts and cut all federal spending from repuke districts. He should also immediately cut health care for congress and staff.

[rhombus]

7. Robert's conservative supreme court would love to throw a wrench into the debate

It would be a DISASTER of epic proportions to litigate this in the courts. The uncertainty would roil the financial markets. Pick your battles wisely.