President Barack Obama elbowed his way back into the debt ceiling debate Monday night, three days after Republicans shoved him out, but he offered no hint of a solution to the escalating political and financial crisis. 
 
 If regular citizens — or markets here and overseas — were looking for reassurance in Obama’s 15-minute speech or House Speaker John Boehner’s five-minute rebuttal, they were out of luck. Instead, the men who hold the fiscal destiny of nearly 312 million people in their hands treated viewers to the unsettling spectacle of two leaders talking past, not to, each other. 
 
 Text Size - 
 
 + 
 
 reset 'Let's seize this moment' 'President wants a blank check today' POLITICO 44 
 
 With neither Obama nor House Republicans yet willing to make the final compromise necessary to seal a deal, the leader of the free world made a stunning appeal for regular citizens to call or email their representatives to end what he called the “most dangerous game.” 
 
 “This is no way to run the greatest country on Earth. … We can’t allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare,” Obama added. “If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of Congress know.” 
 
 The tactic seemed to have the desired effect, temporarily overwhelming the website of Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders. 
 
 Obama did call for unity, quoting Ronald Reagan and citing former presidents from both parties who support a “balanced approach” of spending cuts, revenue increases and entitlement reforms. But he also bashed Republicans, arguing that their tactics “risk sparking a deep economic crisis — one caused almost entirely by Washington” and categorically rejected Boehner’s new plan for a short-term debt ceiling hike. 
 
 “Defaulting on our obligations is a reckless and irresponsible outcome to this debate,” Obama said. “And Republican leaders say that they agree we must avoid default. But the new approach that Speaker Boehner unveiled today, which would temporarily extend the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts, would force us to once again face the threat of default just six months from now. In other words, it doesn’t solve the problem.” 
 
 Beyond the I’m-still-here theme of the speech, Obama sought to strike the larger themes of his 2012 campaign, aimed at independent voters who have only now begun tuning into the debt debate: the need for compromise, his disgust with partisan Washington and his determination to make the rich pay their fair share. If his campaign-style rhetoric was persuasive, it came at an awkward time, during the final days when a reasonable debt ceiling compromise can still be struck. ||||| C-SPAN screen shot 
 
 I intended to write about President Obama's prime-time address on the debt ceiling, but House Speaker John Boehner's performance turned out to be the big news. Last seen Friday evening complaining that the president added new last-minute conditions in their debt-ceiling negotiations, Boehner now seems to have no memory of those negotiations, which by both parties' account left them about $400 billion apart. That's not chump change, but against the backdrop of an attempted $4 trillion deal, it didn't have to be a deal-breaker either. 
 
 But if you listened to Boehner Monday night, you'd think he and Obama never discussed a deal. In fact you'd believe the president never wanted any kind of deficit-reduction deal at all. In an impressive display of mendacity, Boehner told the American people the president wants "a blank check" to keep on spending, and the House GOP is serving "the American people" by resisting. Instead of talking about how he and Obama might close the gap they faced only three days ago, Boehner went full-tilt Tea Party crazy and presented his own plan, which requires not only brutal spending cuts but a balanced budget amendment -- as well as another congressional vote to hike the debt ceiling again at the height of the 2012 election season. 
 
 Can there be any doubt that the Republicans' only interest here is making Obama fail? Let's review all the ways they moved the goalposts since the 2010 elections gave them new power. In December Boehner told the New Yorker that raising the debt ceiling would be the new House majority’s "first really big adult moment," adding, "We’ll have to find a way to help educate members and help people understand the serious problem that would exist if we didn’t do it." For his part Obama said he expected a clean up or down vote, just like President Reagan got 18 times and George W. Bush got another seven times. But after Boehner negotiated his program-cuts-for-continuing-government deal, in April he began to make threats. "The president says I want you to send me a clean bill. Well guess what, Mr. President: Not a chance you’re going to get a clean bill," he told a GOP fundraiser. "There will not be an increase in the debt limit without something really, really big attached to it." 
 
 Obama decided to negotiate, but he demanded a dollar of tax or revenue hikes for every dollar of spending cuts. Republicans not only rejected revenue hikes, they demanded a dollar of spending cuts for every dollar the debt ceiling was raised. Obama began seeking a "grand bargain," in which he'd discuss Social Security and Medicare cuts (even though Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit) in exchange for at least revenue hikes. The earliest leaks about such a deal, believe them or not, all contained spending cuts three to five times bigger than revenue hikes. Then what happened? Boehner walked away from negotiations to close those deals -- which would have infuriated many progressives, by the way, including me. And a few weeks ago, as the president got ever more conciliating, Republicans got more stubborn, now demanding a balanced budget amendment in whatever deal is reached. 
 
 I honestly don't think anyone has come out and said how extraordinarily apocalyptic and insane it is to tie that controversial old GOP issue to the debt ceiling hike, given the disaster for the American economy if we default. The balanced budget amendment lost favor under the deficit-building Ronald Reagan, when many Republicans decided deficits weren't really an issue -- unless a Democrat held the White House. Tonight Boehner was on prime-time national television telling Americans that's what it will take to increase the debt ceiling. Now, Boehner knows a balanced budget amendment bill can't pass. Hell, he probably doesn't even want it. But this is the way the GOP ups the ante every time the president gets close to a deal. 
 
 And what did the president do? He tried to explain how we got into this mess, and he prepared us for a gut-wrenching, economy-wounding compromise. I liked a lot of Obama's speech tonight, but he made a couple of points that typify the way he ultimately negotiates against himself. He opened with that sad and useless comparison between the federal budget and household budgets. Paul Krugman and Robert Reich, among others, have explained why it's wrong until they're blue in the face -- unlike each of our little families, the federal government correctly goes into deficit spending to spur recovery from recession; in fact, the government does it because our families can't or shouldn't. Obama still found the folksy comparison irresistible. "Every family knows a little credit card debt is manageable," the president said, while arguing that anything more than "a little" hurts the economy. 
 
 His rhetorical climax also left me a little cold. Talking about Americans' many frustrations with the status quo, Obama concluded: "But do you know what people are fed up with most of all? They’re fed up with a town where compromise has become a dirty word." Does he really think that? Obama continued: 
 
 They work all day long, many of them scraping by, just to put food on the table. And when these Americans come home at night, bone-tired, and turn on the news, all they see is the same partisan three-ring circus here in Washington. They see leaders who can’t seem to come together and do what it takes to make life just a little bit better for ordinary Americans. They are offended by that. And they should be. 
 
 You know, I'm sure that's true for some people who are "scraping by." But I think it's mainly true for the Beltway elites the president hears from way too much. That's the complaint of David Brooks and Tom Friedman, and the hedge-funders backing the frivolous "third party" time-waster, Americans Elect. It's not what the unemployed and the struggling and people afraid they'll lose Social Security or Medicare benefits are "fed up with most of all." Obama can't really think that, can he? 
 
 In this political environment, anything is possible. Prepare to hear that Harry Reid's deal to cut $2.7 trillion from the budget, with absolutely no revenue increases, is a victory for Democrats. It won't be. I hope I'm wrong, but the president is dealing with a conscience-free opposition willing to risk economic tragedy to defeat him. I'd love to see all of his maneuvering result in a clean up or down vote on a debt increase (which some of his most avid supporters insist is his goal). I don't see it from here. Again, I would be thrilled to be wrong. ||||| President Obama made clear tonight that the debate over the debt ceiling is not left vs. right. It’s center vs. right. There was nothing remotely “left” in this speech, unless you count higher taxes for corporate jet owners and a few other populist bits. 
 
 He summarized his approach this way: “[L]et’s live within our means by making serious, historic cuts in government spending. Let’s cut domestic spending to the lowest level it’s been since Dwight Eisenhower was president. Let’s cut defense spending at the Pentagon by hundreds of billions of dollars. Let’s cut out the waste and fraud in health care programs like Medicare — and at the same time, let’s make modest adjustments so that Medicare is still there for future generations. Finally, let’s ask the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to give up some of their tax breaks and special deductions.” 
 
 That’s four sentences on cuts and barely one sentence on taxes, and not even tax increases as such — just a request that the privileged “give up some of their tax breaks and special deductions.” 
 
 On the other side are “a significant number of Republicans in Congress [who] are insisting on a cuts-only approach — an approach that doesn’t ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all.” He went on: “And because nothing is asked of those at the top of the income scales, such an approach would close the deficit only with more severe cuts to programs we all care about — cuts that place a greater burden on working families.” 
 
 That happens to be true. The most remarkable thing about this whole debate (other than the dangerous foolishness of one side holding the nation’s credit standing hostage to get what it wants) is that Republicans have defined their party as being committed to low taxes for the wealthy above everything else. If anything good can come out of this strange episode, it is that no one will ever be able to doubt that proposition in the future. 
 
 There were some nice touches in Obama’s address. Who would ever have imagined that it was Ronald Reagan who said: “Would you rather reduce deficits and interest rates by raising revenue from those who are not now paying their fair share, or would you rather accept larger budget deficits, higher interest rates, and higher unemployment? And I think I know your answer.” 
 
 It was also good that right out of the box, Obama reminded Americans where the big deficits came from – and where we were when President George W. Bush took office: “In the year 2000, the government had a budget surplus,” Obama said. “But instead of using it to pay off our debt, the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, while two wars and an expensive prescription-drug program were simply added to our nation’s credit card. As a result, the deficit was on track to top $1 trillion the year I took office.” He then explained that the deficit grew further because of the Great Recession, the drop in tax receipts it caused, and the spending he undertook to keep it from being worse. It was a direct hit at Republicans who seemed not to worry about deficits until Obama took office — and now blame him for much of the red ink they themselves spilled. 
 
 And after his angry news conference on Friday, it was a nice touch for him to wrap his arms around his main Republican adversary. “And to his credit, this is the kind of approach” – that would be the one Obama was advancing – “the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, was working on with me over the last several weeks.” It did raise the question of which side Boehner is really on. 
 
 As for Boehner’s speech, he looked pretty good — that green tie was striking — but his speech was directed more to the right-wing base than to the crisis at hand. “The sad truth is that the president wanted a blank check six months ago, and he wants a blank check today,” Boehner said. “That is just not going to happen.” Please. As Obama pointed out, he just wanted what Reagan got 18 times and George W. Bush got seven times — a normal debt-ceiling increase. And I wish the GOP would stop talking about its “Cut, Cap and Balance” bill as “bipartisan.” It got 240 votes, of which only five were from Democrats. It was opposed by 190 House members, of whom nine were Republicans. So opposition to their bill was more “bipartisan” than the support it got. 
 
 On the issue we now confront, the Senate proposal to raise the debt ceiling is much more sensible than the House plan because it insists that we not go through this charade again until Americans get their say at the ballot box a year from November. The most persuasive argument in Obama’s speech may thus have been this one: “Based on what we’ve seen these past few weeks, we know what to expect six months from now. The House will once again refuse to prevent default unless the rest of us accept their cuts-only approach. . . . And once again, the economy will be held captive unless they get their way.” 
 
 This whole mess is not making any politician in Washington look good. Obama has taken a modest hit in his approval ratings, but the Republicans are taking a bigger hit. My hunch is that Obama’s speech spoke more to middle-of-the-road Americans than Boehner’s did because Obama was clearly talking to them. Boehner has to prove over and over that he’s faithful to the folks at the right end of his caucus, and it’s starting to take a toll. That’s why Republicans may yet find themselves wanting to get the debt-ceiling matter out of the way without forcing another round of this madness. ||||| President Obama addressed the nation Tuesday regarding the government shutdown, telling Congress to take a vote on a continuing resolution to end the government shutdown. (The Washington Post) 
 
 President Obama addressed the nation Tuesday regarding the government shutdown, telling Congress to take a vote on a continuing resolution to end the government shutdown. (The Washington Post) 
 
 President Obama, declaring that he is “not budging” on his demand for a debt-limit increase without partisan strings attached, warned Tuesday that there are “no magic bullets” to avoid a devastating default if the ceiling is not raised, and he challenged House Republicans who believe otherwise to go on record by voting on the matter. 
 
 If a debt-ceiling increase fails “and we do end up defaulting,” Obama said in an afternoon news conference, “I think voters should know exactly who voted not to pay our bills, so that they can be responsible for the consequences that come with it.” 
 
 Shortly afterward, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) complained to reporters that Obama was demanding “unconditional surrender” by Republicans before he would talk to them. Speaking hours after he and Obama talked on the phone to reiterate their positions, Boehner said he was “disappointed that the president refuses to negotiate.” 
 
 He insisted that the House will not vote to reopen the government or raise the federal debt limit without unspecified concessions by Obama to curtail federal spending. 
 
 “There’s going to be a negotiation here,” Boehner said. “We can’t raise the debt ceiling without doing something about what’s driving us to borrow more money and to live beyond our means.” 
 
 Graphic House Republicans have proposed funding that amounts to about one-third of discretionary funding. See the bills here. 
 
 Obama used his appearance in the White House briefing room to forcefully state his case that the Republican-controlled House should hold a vote on a short-term spending bill that would immediately end a partial government shutdown, now in its eighth day. 
 
 “Let’s stop the excuses,” Obama said. “Let’s take a vote in the House. Let’s end this shutdown right now.” 
 
 [Click here for the latest updates on the shutdown.] 
 
 Obama said the House also should allow members to vote on increasing the debt limit, because a U.S. default on its debt would “irresponsible,” enormously costly and potentially catastrophic for the U.S. and global economy. 
 
 He said a default could “permanently increase our borrowing costs,” adding to deficits and the debt instead of decreasing them. “There’s nothing fiscally responsible about that,” he said. 
 
 Obama stressed that he was willing to negotiate with the GOP after threats to the economy were lifted. 
 
 “I am happy to talk with him and other Republicans about anything,” Obama said after a phone conversation Tuesday morning with Boehner. “I also told him that having such a conversation, talks, negotiations, shouldn’t require hanging the threats of a government shutdown or economic chaos over the heads of the American people.” 
 
 “No American president would deal with a foreign leader like this,” he said. “We shouldn’t be dealing this way here in Washington.” 
 
 In response to questions, Obama acknowledged that he was “tempted” to accept piecemeal House Republican bills to fund parts of the government in order to “solve at least some of the problems” caused by the shutdown, which began Oct. 1. But he said a “shotgun approach like that” responds only to areas where the Republicans are “feeling political pressure,” leaving less visible programs unfunded. 
 
 “You don’t do a piecemeal approach like that when you’re dealing with a government shutdown,” he said. 
 
 On the debt ceiling, he said, Republicans now are “aware of the fact that I’m not budging when it comes to the full faith and credit of the United States.” 
 
 Obama said he has tried all year to negotiate with Republicans on the budget but did not achieve success. 
 
 “We’ve been talking all kinds of business,” he said. “What we haven’t been able to get is serious positions from the Republicans that would actually allow us to solve core differences.” 
 
 Obama urged Americans not to be complacent about the threat of default. 
 
 “As reckless as a government shutdown is, the economic shutdown caused by America defaulting would be dramatically worse,” he said. 
 
 “Even though people can see and feel the effects of the government shutdown, there are still some people out there who don’t believe default is a real thing.” 
 
 Contrary to what some supposedly business-oriented Republicans say, Obama declared, a default would be “a big deal.” He added: “There’s no business person out there who thinks this wouldn’t be a big deal.” 
 
 Saying otherwise “is irresponsible,” Obama said. “It is out of touch with reality.” 
 
 The president also ruled out using the 14th Amendment to unilaterally raise the debt limit. He said inviting “legal controversy” about the U.S. Treasury’s authority to issue debt would mean that “the damage would have been done” even if the action were found constitutional. 
 
 “There are no magic bullets here,” Obama said. 
 
 In opening remarks at the news conference, Obama said: “The last time that the tea party Republicans flirted with the idea of default, two years ago, markets plunged, business and consumer confidence plunged, America’s credit rating was downgraded for the first time.” Actually permitting the government to default on its debt, he said, quoting business leaders and economists, “would be . . . ‘insane, catastrophic, chaos’ — these are some of the more polite words.” 
 
 Obama made the comments as House Republican leaders pressed demands for negotiations with Senate Democrats and Obama over bills to fund the government and raise the debt limit, but declined to lay out what they are seeking in the proposed talks. 
 
 Speaking to reporters earlier Tuesday after his weekly meeting with House Republicans, Boehner charged that “by refusing to negotiate,” Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) “are putting our country on a pretty dangerous path.” Obama has rejected Republican provisions to curtail or delay his health-care law as part of a short-term government funding bill and has demanded a debt-ceiling increase without “partisan” attachments. 
 
 “Listen, there’s never been a president in our history that did not negotiate over the debt limit,” Boehner said. “Never. Not once. As a matter of fact, President Obama negotiated with me over the debt limit in 2011. He also negotiated with the Blue Dog Democrats to raise the debt in ceiling in 2010. So the way to resolve this is to sit down and have a conversation to resolve our differences.” 
 
 But Boehner would not specify what he wants in negotiations with the president. In response to questions, he declined to say whether he would support a short-term increase of the debt ceiling or to spell out the level of spending cuts he would support. 
 
 “I’m not drawing any lines in the sand,” Boehner said. “There’s no boundaries here. There’s nothing on the table. There’s nothing off the table. I’m trying to do everything I can to bring people together and to have a conversation.” 
 
 In a brief news conference late in the afternoon, Boehner said he agrees with Obama “that we should pay our bills” and avoid a default. But he argued that debt-ceiling increases have been used in the past to negotiate “significant policy changes that reduce spending and put us on a saner fiscal path.” 
 
 He added: “This isn’t about me, and frankly it’s not about Republicans. It’s about saving the future for our kids and grandkids.” 
 
 “What the president said today was if there was unconditional surrender by Republicans, he’ll sit down and talk to us,” Boehner said. That’s not the way our government works.” 
 
 In a rare gathering on the Senate floor Tuesday, senior senators implored both parties to come together to reopen the government and increase the debt limit. 
 
 “It is time for us, members of this august body, to stand before the American people,” Reid said after he took the rare step of summoning all senators to the floor. The exchange began around the same time that Obama began addressing reporters at the White House. 
 
 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has maintained a low profile in recent days, spoke next, reminding Democrats that they will need to negotiate with Republicans in the House to break the impasse. 
 
 “The American people have given us divided government. And when you have divided government, it means you have to talk to each other,” McConnell told colleagues. 
 
 Earlier, Reid reiterated in a floor speech that he would be willing to negotiate with Boehner once the House passes measures reopening the government and raising the debt ceiling. 
 
 “Open the government, raise the debt ceiling, and we’ll talk about anything you want to talk about,” Reid said. “Stop threatening a catastrophic default on the nation’s bills.” 
 
 The Senate Democratic leader charged that Boehner reneged on a previous commitment to pass a “clean” government funding bill in the House, with no riders attacking the health-care law, if Democrats would accept the GOP’s budget number. Reid said he told Boehner that Democrats “hate your number” and wanted $70 billion more in spending but eventually agreed as a way to resolve the budget issue for a year. 
 
 But Boehner “didn’t live up to what he committed to doing,” Reid said. 
 
 Late Tuesday evening, the House voted on two measures that would pay federal employees currently on the job on time and launch a new bipartisan House-Senate working group to negotiate a broader set of fiscal issues. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) presented the plan during a Tuesday morning meeting with the House GOP conference. The bill authorizing payment of salaries to federal workers during the shutdown passed 420-to-0. 
 
 The new House-Senate panel would have a makeup similar to a joint congressional committee established in 2011, which was commonly known as the “supercommittee.” But the mandate for the new group would include addressing the debt limit and other fiscal concerns. Proposing a new panel is just the latest effort by Republicans to establish a framework for negotiations with the Senate and Obama. 
 
 The bill providing compensation for federal workers would ensure that federal prison guards, U.S. Capitol Police officers and staffers at other agencies currently on the job would be paid as scheduled for however long the partial government shutdown continues. 
 
 A separate bill passed by the House over the weekend ensures that furloughed, nonessential personnel would be paid after the impasse ends. That bill is awaiting a vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate. 
 
 Obama called Boehner at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, but no progress was reported from the call. 
 
 “The president called the speaker again today to reiterate that he won’t negotiate on a government-funding bill or debt-limit increase,” said Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck. 
 
 According to a White House account of the call, Obama told Boehner he is “willing to negotiate with Republicans — after the threat of government shutdown and default have been removed — over policies that Republicans think would strengthen the country.” Obama expressed willingness to negotiate on “policies that expand economic opportunity, support private sector job creation, enhance the competitiveness of American businesses, strengthen the Affordable Care Act and continue to reduce the nation’s deficit,” the White House said. 
 
 Obama urged Boehner “to hold a vote in the House of Representatives on the Senate-passed measure that would reopen the federal government immediately,” the White House statement said. “Citing the Senate’s intention to pass a clean, yearlong extension of the debt limit this week, the President also pressed the Speaker to allow a timely up-or-down vote in the House to raise the debt limit with no ideological strings attached. He noted that only Congress has the authority to raise the debt limit and failure to do so would have grave consequences for middle class families and the American economy as a whole.” 
 
 Obama and Senate Democrats tried Monday to break the political logjam, advancing legislation that would raise the federal debt ceiling as soon as possible. 
 
 Democrats said they will attempt to force Republicans to agree to a long-term $1 trillion debt-limit increase to ensure that the government does not reach a point this month where it may be unable to pay its bills, risking its first default. They said they also may accept a short-term bill, perhaps lasting only weeks, if necessary to avoid going over the brink. 
 
 The Democratic push on the debt limit came as a partial government shutdown entered its second week with no solution in sight. New polling showed that the fiscal standoff is hurting Republicans far more than it is Obama, although no party is faring particularly well. 
 
 A Washington Post-ABC News survey found that 70 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Republicans are handling budget negotiations, up from 63 percent last week, with 24 percent approving. 
 
 Obama’s approval rating on budget matters ticked up slightly over the same time period — from 41 percent to 45 percent — but 51 percent disapprove. Obama’s Democratic colleagues in Congress are faring worse, with 61 percent of Americans disapproving, up from 56 percent before the shutdown. 
 
 In a hastily arranged visit Monday to the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Obama said he will not bow to Republicans’ demands that he enter negotiations with them or risk a continued shutdown or a default. 
 
 “I cannot do that under the threat that if Republicans don’t get 100 percent of their way, they’re going to either shut down the government or they are going to default on America’s debt,” he said. 
 
 Republicans remained undeterred, saying they would neither raise the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling nor reopen the government without first winning concessions. 
 
 Lawmakers have little time to resolve the impasse. After Oct. 17, the Treasury Department says it cannot guarantee that it can pay all of the government’s bills, and independent analysts say the government would have less than two weeks before a default. 
 
 Later this week, Reid hopes to open debate on a bill that would raise the debt limit, aides said. To do so, he would need the support of all 54 members of the Senate Democratic caucus, plus six Republicans — a goal that seemed possible Monday, but is far from assured. 
 
 Meanwhile, if any senator objects to the proposal, procedural hurdles would prevent the measure from clearing the Senate and reaching the House until Oct. 15 — two days before the Treasury Department’s deadline. 
 
 Several Republican senators left the door open to supporting a “clean” debt-limit bill, but said it would depend on whether Democrats were willing to enter talks on broader budget reforms. 
 
 “I don’t know what the dynamics are here. I don’t know what’s being offered. It’s too early,” said Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who nonetheless held out hope. “I’m going to have to wait and see.” 
 
 But senior GOP aides said any debt-limit proposal in the House is likely to need significant conservative sweeteners to be considered. 
 
 Zachary A. Goldfarb and William Branigin contributed to this report.
– President Obama and John Boehner gave dueling speeches last night, and the news was not good. Here's what the pundits are taking away from it all: If people—or markets—were looking for reassurance, “they were out of luck,” observes Politico. Instead, Obama and Boehner “treated viewers to the unsettling spectacle of two leaders talking past, not to, each other,” with Obama even issuing a “stunning” plea for people to call their representatives. Obama’s speech proved this isn’t a left vs. right debate. “It’s center vs. right,” argues EJ Dionne of the Washington Post. “There was nothing remotely ‘left’ in this speech.” With some deft rhetorical touches—like quoting Ronald Reagan— “my hunch is that Obama’s speech spoke more to middle-of-the-road Americans.” But William Kristol of the Weekly Standard thought Obama came across as condescending—especially when he said most Americans had probably never heard of the debt ceiling. “It would be nice to have a president who spoke candidly to his fellow citizens as adults,” he writes. Boehner, meanwhile, went “full-tilt Tea Party crazy,” writes Joan Walsh of Salon. He acted as though he and Obama had never discussed a deal at all, while demanding a balanced budget amendment—which is “extraordinarily apocalyptic and insane,” because Boehner knows that can’t pass. “Hell, he probably doesn’t even want it.” He’s just moving the goal posts on Obama again.