LyfLines: Can anyone defend this guy? Seriously?

Keith Hennessey:

Yesterday there was a tentative agreement among Speaker Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Reid, and Senate Minority Leader McConnell on the outline of a bill to increase the debt limit and cut spending.

This tentative agreement would increase the debt limit by about $900 B to $1 T, enough to make it into the first quarter of next year, packaged with a bit more than $1 trillion of spending cuts, discretionary caps, and no tax increases. There would be a second debt limit extension next year that would go into 2013, upon action of a joint committee of Congress that would make recommendations for further deficit reduction.

While this is inconsistent with the President’s Election Day demand, a debt limit increase that lasted into next year would be routine based on historic practice.

Senate Majority Leader Reid took this to the White House yesterday and the President rejected it. Leader Reid left that meeting and said publicly that Senate Democrats would instead pursue a different plan that would increase the debt limit by $2.7 trillion, enough to get into 2013. Leader Reid says his plan would cut spending by at least $2.7 trillion (I am skeptical).

It appears the three key Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle reached a tentative agreement yesterday and the President blew it up.

I've said, several times, that if there's a default, it's the responsibility of one man - Barack Obama. Is there any question remaining in anyone's mind that he's the obstacle right now to getting anything done? Even the Democrats recognize that they're going to have to work around the President to get anything done.

And if you look closely at his words and actions for the past week, what you see is a man campaigning, not governing. Everything he says puts the blame on someone else, and everything he does is aimed at pushing the problems out past the elections in 2012.

Has there ever been a man elected who was less well suited - in attitude, in experience, in ego, in qualifications, in competence, in temperament - for the Presidency than Barack Obama? I don't know enough about James Buchanan to really answer that, but my guess is, "no, there hasn't."

A few more Obama thoughts...

Tony Katz:

After watching the most recent speech from President Obama on the debt and deficit, I can honestly say that there is no depth to which he won’t sink. It is stunning to see the president talk about compromise, when the Administration has yet to put forth its own plan...The president was elected to make hard decisions, yet he is unwilling to make any decision. He is supposed to be a great speaker, but has proven he is a horrible listener. And now, he has gone from speaking to begging….begging America to do what he wants, rather than accepting the idea of “compromise” himself.

Bryan Preston:

Obama Blames Bush, Offers Nothing New. That’s what I saw in President Obama’s speech. Speaker Boehner’s speech struck more of a leader’s tone, noting that neither the House nor the Senate is really the roadblock, but Obama is, and has placed himself to the left and outside the discussion. And, the president still doesn’t have a plan.

Peter Wehner:

It’s been clear to some of us for a while that Barack Obama is a man of uncommon self-admiration, quite thin-skinned, and increasingly consumed by his grievances. Obama has masked these traits pretty well so far, but on Friday his mask slipped more than it ever has. And that is bound to hurt him...Obama’s conduct during the debt ceiling negotiations – from his flip-flops to his irrelevant deadlines to his backtracking on his agreements with various parties – has been so erratic and uneven that his own party has decided the best hope of reaching an agreement is to sideline him...At this juncture, it looks like Obama is the most adolescent, even childish, figure in the negotiations – a petulant man who also happens to be an inept negotiator.

The really scary thing is how many times President Obama opens himself up for strong comparisons to Michael Scott. And not Michael's good side...