* if Obama pulls this off, and today it begins to look as if he might, his political acumen will jump to legendary status … and the country will reap enormous benefits from his reasoned, intelligent, informed and courageous leadership … UPDATE … the one clear winner from all this seems to be President Obama (via POLITICAL observations & opinions)

You could not find a purer example of beltway thinking. Here we have the talking heads concept of politics, who is winning the battle of the airwaves. Strangely enough, the terrible pain inflicted by this monstrous agreement is absent from the deal.

Here read this –

UPDATE
Jay Newton-Small at TIME.com writes (8/1/11) …

the one clear winner from all this seems to be President Obama.
If the bill passes, he can now claim the mantle of fiscal conservatism – a surefire defense to ubiquitous Republican accusations of socialism and big government.
If the debt ceiling were breached and the economy tanked, he likely would’ve borne the greatest political price.
But by swooping in and making the deal at the last minute, Obama can say he saved the day.

******

This guy gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to write what passes for wisdom in the nation’s capital. This kind of press, this kind of bizarre, “who is winning” excited discussion, is one of the reasons we are in such an economic mess. Who wins? Everybody in this nation lost when a threat to destroy the nation’s credit is successfully used as a bargaining chip.

Go back and re-read it. He doesn’t even realize how satirical, how ridiculous this sounds outside the beltway. Reality has no significance in the world of Washington. It’s just out here in the sticks where the penalties are felt that we talk about the actual elements of the agreement (if we can find out what they are).

James Pilant

* if Obama pulls this off, and today it begins to look as if he might, his political acumen will jump to  legendary status ... and the country will reap enormous benefits from his reasoned, intelligent, informed and courageous leadership ... UPDATE ... the one clear winner from all this seems to be President Obama ****** UPDATE Jay Newton-Small at TIME.com writes (8/1/11) … the one clear winner from all this seems to be President Obama. If the bill passes, he can now claim the mantle of fiscal conservatism – a surefire defense to ubiquitous Republican accusations of socialism and big government. If the debt ceiling were breached and the economy tanked, he likely would’ve borne the greatest political price. But by swooping in and making the deal at the la … Read More

via POLITICAL observations & opinions

NYT: Debt Limit Deal “A Nearly Complete Capitulation to Hostage-Taking Demands of GOP Extremists” – 8/1/11 (via Tarpon’s Swamp)

This is an accurate description of the situation. I am hoping for much more savage denigration of the current holder of the Oval Office. I am going to do some of it myself.

James Pilant

The liberals at the New York Times don’t like the Debt Limit Deal President Obama and Leaders of Congress have agreed to. That’s always a good sign. Here’s some of their bluster in an editorial published this morning: NEW YORK TIMES: There is little to like about the tentative agreement between Congressional leaders and the White House except that it happened at all. The deal would avert a catastrophic government default, immediately and probably … Read More

via Tarpon's Swamp