Debt Deal: The Aftermath

from www.whitehouse.gov

Although pendulums swing both ways and there is still plenty of time until the 2012 elections, it seems clear that the debt deal hammered out last week, and the subsequent Standard and Poor's downgrade of the United State's credit rating was a serious political set-back for President Obama.    Here are some memorable words from the press:

Kurt Anderson

Kurt Andersen, New York Times: Of course, a lot of us swooned over Obama partly because he seemed so prudent, straightforward and even-keeled. But now, with Republicans spectacularly applying the Madman Theory for the first time in domestic politics, Obama’s nonconfrontational reasonableness isn’t looking like such a virtue. [brilliant article, compares Obama to Nixon]

Joe Nocera

Joe Nocera, New York Times: I still think it was terribly wrong for the Republicans to use the threat of default to  insist on massive spending cuts, though President Obama also deserves blame for playing his hand so poorly.






Lexington, The Economist: Any assessment of Mr. Obama needs to acknowledge that when he was elected he inherited the in-box from hell.... Now he faces the opposition from hell....But Americans want their Presidents to be winners, not victims.

Peggy Noonan

Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal: ...speeches aren't magic.  A speech is only as good as the ideas it advances.  Reagan had good ideas.  Obama does not.

Holman Jenkins

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., Wall Street Journal: Tax reform is the political fulcrum for addressing the growth shortage, the fiscal crisis, and our runaway health-care prices problem.  It's the one idea that reaches across the partisan divide.  It might be the only thing that can save the Obama presidency. [Good point!]