There's an excellent article by Elizabeth Drew in the New York Review of Books, "What Were They Thinking?" Please take time to read it, because it provides the most cogent summary of how we got from the December 2010 extension of the tax cuts for the wealthy, through this spring's continuing resolution, to the current hostage situation with the debt ceiling. The takeaway for me was how much Obama has allowed the Rethugs to set the terms of the debate since the 2010 elections, how they've consistently rolled him, and how positioning himself as the "fiscal centrist" is precisely the wrong place to be at the wrong time. Meanwhile, Obama asks if the Rethugs can say "yes," while we wonder if he can say "no."
Good read, but depressing.
