Debt Limit Fight: Dangerous Partisan Blame Game

2012

• Why Obama Has Already Won the Debt-Limit Fight (Jonathan Alter, Bloomberg.com) If you went into the congressional kitchen to cook up the perfect Washington fudge, this is what you’d get. Instead of “doing something big” about the deficit, McConnell is proposing to do nothing -- then blame the other side. It’s a sign of how ungovernable the country has become that something resembling this scheme is now the most practical way forward.
• How it became Boehner's Dilemma - Making a deal on the US debt ceiling is easier said than done as both parties play a game of political one-upmanship (By LEON HADAR, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, The Business Times)
• July 14, 2011 - President Is Best Of The Worst On Economy, U.S. Voters Tell Quinnipiac University National Poll; Voters Blame Bush Over Obama 2-1 For Financial Mess (Quinnipiac) "The key voting bloc, independents, say 49 - 24 percent that Bush is more responsible for the economy than Obama." 
• Gallup Poll: ‘Generic Republican’ Leads Obama by 8  Points (By Katie Glueck, Wall Street Journal/Washington Wire)
• North Carolina going bad for Obama (Public Policy Polling, Tom Jensen) A sharp turn against him with independent voters is what's causing Obama problems in the state. Last month they narrowly gave him good marks by a 47/46 margin but now only 36% are happy with him while 62% disapprove.