Now: there is a little sub-text here. The things that the GOP is asking for are essentially things that they can then use against him in the next election: cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Agreeing to any of those cuts is political suicide, and will be the exclusive legacy to Barack Obama's presidency (and the last law he ever signs). Doing so will set up the Republican contender in the next general election for a landslide.
Because none of the GOP front-runners are currently in Congress, they have clean hands on this whole deal. They can then come out of the gate with a tactical nuclear bomb political attack ad: Obama was the President who cut [insert widely popular social safety net program here]. This will have senior citizens lining up around the block to vote against the President in 2012.??
If he actually falls for this trick he doesn't deserve to be President anymore, and he will likely lose in the inevitable primary anyhow.
This situation is cut and dried for President Obama if he wants to keep his job. Invoke the 14th Amendment, get his legal team to issue an air-tight brief asserting its legality, and watch the GOP stomp their feet like petulant kids in the candy aisle of a grocery store. As that happens, Obama needs to go on a 50-state tour to pound home the message that the GOP wanted to cut social programs, but he stopped them.
By the time the dust settled on the legality of the move, the 2012 election will be over, Congress will be back in the hands of the Democrats, and we can tax the living SHIT out of the rich to pay for whatever the hell we want to.
At this late hour I genuinely hope he is not still trying to work out a deal with these fascist traitors in the GOP. It's a pointless waste of time. Let's be done with this nonsense and get on with the business of fixing the mess these idiots in Congress are trying to unleash on the American people.
Grab your sack and man up, Mr. President. It's go time. You can do this. We're waiting...
