Well, for starters, let me remind the media that Republicans did compromise on the eve of the shutdown. The GOP agreed to keep the government open, but asked that Obamacare be delayed for a year. Sen. Harry Reid said no. As the shutdown persists, he’s also said no to the House plan to raise the debt ceiling. The president, Harry Reid, and the Democrats own this shutdown.
Additionally, the majority of Americans do no support a clean debt hike. According to a CBS News poll, which isn’t right-leaning in the slightest, finds that 75% of Americans feel that the debt ceiling should only be raised with cuts, or not at all. This is hardly a controversial – or extreme – position.
In the history of the debt ceiling, 27 of the last 53 increases approved by Congress have been attached to spending or other reforms. So, it’s really Democratic, not Republican, intransigence that’s to blame for this debacle.
Americans want lower deficits, debt, and a delay in the individual mandate. Republicans have come to the table. They even wanted a conference committee to resolve this crisis, but were turned down by Senate Democrats. Granted, while this approach may have angered some conservatives, it’s true that combining the Obamacare fight with the debt ceiling would’ve resulted in defeat.
This move allows Republicans to concentrate all their energy on Obamacare. It’s hard to fight a two-front war. It’s almost impossible to win such a venture without the Senate or the White House. Some say the shutdown distracts the media from the disaster of Obamacare. I disagree. There’s been ample coverage of the rollout fiasco, especially the notion that Additionally, the next election is in thirteen months; plenty of time for conservatives to eviscerate the Achilles heel of this administration.
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