Obama's desperation is showing again

In an hilarious new pitch, the White House is claiming that it is against the Boehner bill to raise the debt ceiling because it would put the next vote on the subject near Christmas and it would ruin the holiday season. The argument has actually been made in public by both the president's spokesman Jay Carney and Obama political adviser David Plouffe. I have never seen the Obamacrats this desperate.

Obviously, Obama and his folks understand how bad he has looked in the entire debt ceiling debacle. Instead of looking like the "adult" in the room as he likes to claim, Obama has looked more like a disinterested and incompetent fool who has made clear that he does not know how to accomplish anything besides giving a speech.

So here is a suggestion: if Obama is actually concerned about the Christmas holidays, then he should have adequate work done to come up with the next proposal for raising the debt ceiling no later than October 15th, and he should put forward his own detailed proposal to the Congress by the end of October. After that Obama should have at least weekly meetings with the Congressional leadership on just this bill in order to hammer out a compromise that can pass both houses. By exerting presidential leadership (something that Obama has not done this time), Obama ought to be able to have the matter resolved long before there is any impact on the Christmas season. Of course, that would require Obama to focus and work hard, so it is unlikely to happen.

Here is another suggestion: Obama could propose in October that there be a cut of one half of one percent across the board in all federal plans and spending for the rest of the fiscal year with resulting changes to the baseline. That alone would more than cover all the money needed in a further debt ceiling rise to get into 2013. That's right, there is no need to overthink the matter. Just cut one cent out of every two hundred. Of course, that would reduce social security payments and medicare reimbursements. For a person getting $1500 per month in social security, however, that is a cut of $7.50. Most Americans would be willing to see cuts of that sort if it meant preventing default. Alternatively, Obama could propose larger cuts to other programs and no cut to social security.

Why are we stuck with these clowns in the White House?