Obama’s Dangerous Debt Ceiling Strategy

President Obama kicked off the weekend with a testy Friday night press conference warning of the drastic consequences of failing to raise the debt limit, the havoc it would wreak on financial markets, and the disastrous repercussions for the poor and middle class. That message of fear was reiterated throughout the weekend, bookended this morning by a senior White House official who says there’s a 50/50 chance that the standoff in Washington will not be resolved by the August 2 deadline.

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But it’s not fear for fear’s sake. The White House is employing the same cynical, irresponsible political strategy to force Congress’ hand that it started in January, using Wall Street as its foil. This morning, NPR—as usual and unsurprisingly—had the zeitgeist of the Obama White House just right. Cokie Roberts, its long-time commentator, said:

"[T]here’s a certain element of waiting for the markets to weigh in and show Congress that they have to get serious here…You see the Administration almost kind of, almost daring the markets to respond, yesterday saying that the Congress had to act by 4:00 yesterday afternoon before the Asian markets started to open."

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