Reply #22: I suspect it is because those supporters of the President are upset that he has

[karynnj]

taken a lot of flack - and they are blaming Congress and fail to discriminate between the members. They are trying to deflect any blame from Obama. What I have seen (earlier in the week as I have not read much news since Friday is that much of the left has really criticized Obama's negotiations and the deal, which is awful.

In fairness, no one knows if ANYONE could have gotten a better deal - just that this one really stinks. Kerry has said he dislikes the deal, but the US defaulting was unthinkable. (I suspect the Republicans would have scored a bigger victory had that happened. They are correct in saying there is enough money coming in just to pay the interest on the debt, but that means the President choosing who does not get paid - and all answers are wrong. (ie Why does he hate old people, military people, or federal workers, who just do their job? remember the painful sad stories on the FAA people?) I suspect that if there were no deal, there would be low chances of re-election and (more important) it woul.d have been devastating to the economy.

Not only would there have been all the uncertainty problems, the US would suddenly have really implemented an immediate austerity program - essentially operating at a level commensurate with no deficit (ie living off just the revenue coming in as they could not add $1 to debt. This would, in addition to the pain and the disgrace of not paying for things already authorized and contracted for, would completely destroy the economy - far worse than the deal.

I suspect that it may be many years before we have a complete answer on why Obama did not use the 14th amendment. It could have been that the SC could have stopped it immediately or it could have been that it would have made the upcoming budget debate with the Republicans horrific. The only bad answer is if was done for political reasons for the President alone.