The President Has His Game Face On

I predicted last year when I was discussing politics with some friends that a second term Obama would be very different than a first term Obama.  I said that he was playing the long game, a full eight years, instead of just concentrating on his current term.  The person I was talking to was upset that the President had not been more aggressive when dealing with the Republicans on healthcare and the last debt ceiling debate.  Those are legitimate complaints, of course, but if the past couple weeks are any indication, I was right.

The rumor that the President was floating the idea of compromising with cuts to entitlements like Social Security and Medicare threw the leftwing blogoshere into a tizzy.  Of course, now we see that those cuts did not happen to cut a deal.  The cuts were punted down the road but President Obama’s game face has not gone anywhere.  From the recent gun debate in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, to the upcoming debt ceiling talks, the President has made it clear that he is not fooling around. 

Speaker John Boehner is not a strong Speaker and cannot reign in the crazies in his caucus.  The debt ceiling debate should be fun to watch with several congressional Republicans threatening to raise articles of impeachment against President Obama.  Several members are also in support of a government shutdown.

Thankfully, a couple Republican Senators have broken with their party and acknowledge that a rise in the debt ceiling is necessary.  It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks.