Obama to GOP: 'Don't call my bluff'

[Akoto]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama bluntly told Republican congressional leaders Wednesday they must compromise quickly if the government is to avoid an unprecedented default, adding, "Don't call my bluff" by passing a short-term debt limit increase he has threatened to veto.

The presidential warning, directed at House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., marked an acrimonious end to a two-hour negotiating session at the White House that produced no evident progress toward a compromise

-snip-

Cantor quoted Obama as saying the talks had reached the point that "something's got to give," and demanded Republicans either jettison their demand for deficit cuts at least equal to the size of the debt limit or drop their opposition to tax increases.

"And he said to me, `Eric, don't call my bluff.' He said, `I'm going to the American people with this.'"

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DEBT_SHOWDOWN?SITE=PASUN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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Democratic officials said that in fact, Cantor had twice earlier in the meeting raised the possibility of a short-term bill, and that he interrupted the president mid-sentence to do so a third time.

[SharonAnn]

1. Cantor just doesn't get it! Obama is PRESIDENT! He's not a junior staffer.

This disrespect is very offensive.

And, it is intentional.

He thinks he can "cut Obama down to size".

I call "Bullshit!"

[BlueCaliDem]

2. Boehner got it. McConnell got it. Now li'l Eric got it. Obama takes NO prisoners.

Just ask the Somalia pirates. Or Bin Laden.

Cantor wants Boehner's job, acting like a TeaBagger chump toward the President of the United States, but tonight, Lawrence O'Donnell highlighted just how shrewd and tough Obama is. The man has ice water running through his veins, and if we give him a second term, you can be sure we're going to see MUCH more of it.

[TheDebbieDee]

7. Where was this cold-blooded President when the Dems

were hammering out the health care reform program?

He could have gotten a bill passed with the public option in it!

[Akoto]

11. Probably not as jaded and fed up with the Repubs as he is now. n/t

[BlueCaliDem]

18. A.L.E.C. hammered back - state-by-state.

Single Payer Stillbirth - Wendell Potter reports for The Nation:

Reviewing ALEC’s healthcare-related bills and resolutions from the past few years makes it clear that insurers realized early on that the best way to block the profit-threatening provisions of any federal reform would be to attack them at the state level through ALEC. With Democrats in control of both houses of Congress and the White House in 2009, insurers assumed some kind of healthcare reform was inevitable, so they adopted a strategy to shape rather than stop reform.

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/alec-exposed-and-it-aint-pretty

I surmise the same happened with the public option. But of course, people would blame President Obama first and foremost.

So, no, after they've spent MILLIONS in framing public opinion, there was no way the less-than-courageous Congressional Dems would've allowed any Public Option to take shape. Gotta keep the easily cowed constituents back home happy if you wanna keep your cushy job, right?

[Firebrand Gary]

3. Well said.

That really is the truth of this. The GOP really does think they can push the President around like he's the skinny kid on the playground. WRONG!

[juajen]

4. He's not skinny. He's a good-looking President.

[LetTimmySmoke]

5. The only person Cantor is cutting down to size is himself.

[Volaris]

13. yep...

and I think the result will be that Mr. Cantor is about to find out what a VERY public ass-kicking looks like...from the end of the kick-ee..=)

[0rganism]

6. if Obama stands up to the thugs, it will raise my opinion of him greatly

Up until yesterday, it really looked like he was going to sell us all down the river. If he finishes the job and reels them in, kicking and squirming, on raising the debt limit w/o mauling entitlements, then he's played the game rather well -- maybe even masterfully.

I frankly admit I'll owe him some back hope if he pulls it off, but I want to see the final deal first.

[sendero]

8. Me too.

... IMHO, he might actually salvage his presidency by handling this correctly. I hope he stands his ground. The Republicans will fold like a paper napkin if he does, and the whole dynamic between him and them will shift.

[Bonobo]

9. Note to Obama on poker -You don't tell your opponent when you are bluffing. nt

[apnu]

12. He ain't. He's telling his opponent he is NOT bluffing. (nt)

[BlueCaliDem]

19. Exactly! I was perplexed that Jon Stewart would get cynical on that

when it was clear President Obama made it clear to a juvenile Can'tor he wasn't playing around, rather than playing around. :shrug:

[No Elephants]

10. Rude, uncivil and inexcusable. Who does that twerp think he is?

His high opinon of himself is way overblown.

[Volaris]

14. (future) Speaker of the House of Representatives?

What he doesn't realize is that if he keeps this up, Nancy is going to get her old job back....

[WatsonT]

15. So is it a bluff?

Because you need to keep that a secret.

On the other hand, I'll be holding a poker game this weekend if you're interested . . .

[harun]

16. Yah, he must mean not to call him because he is not bluffing.

[Kingofalldems]

17. Cantor is a punk, get over it.