President Obama hosted a long two and a half hour meeting with top lawmakers yesterday to try to hammer out an agreement on raising the debt limit before August 2nd, the date when America will default on its loans. And after hours of tense negotiations, the president wanted to wrap the meeting up, even though House Majority Leader Eric Cantor wasn't done yet! The nerve of some presidents. Now Obama's going to have to send Cantor a muffin basket, because his feewings are hurt.
Of course, there are two sides to this story—the petulant side comes from Cantor, who claims that when he pressed Obama to consider a short-term debt-limit increase alongside smaller spending cuts, the president brusquely lectured him and walked out. “That’s when he got very agitated, seemingly, and said that he had sat there long enough, and that no other president — Ronald Reagan wouldn’t sit here like this — and that he’s reached the point where something’s got to give,” Cantor told reporters after the meeting. "He said to me, ‘Eric, don’t call my bluff. I’m going to the American people with this."
Democrats agree the meeting was tense, but differ about how it ended. They say Obama was "impassioned," with one official remarking, "Obama lit him up. Cantor sat in stunned silence. It was incredible. If the public saw Obama he would win in a landslide." One Democratic aide tells The Hill, "Obama was concluding the meeting, giving the closing remarks and talking about meeting tomorrow, Cantor interrupted him and raised for the third time doing a short-term, and Obama shut him down. Cantor was playing the role he’s been playing throughout this whole thing — being not productive."
"He stayed for two and a half hours and listened to what members had to say. It was his meeting and the meeting had come to an end,” Nancy Pelosi told reporters. "The president could not have been more gracious. I have never seen a president spend so much time with the leadership of Congress day in and day out, respectful of their concerns."
The meeting wasn't all about hurt feelings and threats to go crying to the American people. Officials tell Politico that Obama offered $1.7 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years, and the parties have agreed in principle on roughly $1.5 trillion of those. Negotiations will resume today, but with Cantor making proclamations like "currently, there is not a single debt limit proposal that can pass the House of Representatives," there isn't a whole lot to feel optimistic about.
Moody's Investors Service said yesterday it will review the government's credit rating, announcing that there is a "a small but rising risk that the government will default on its debt." The Chinese rating agency, Dagong Global Credit Rating Co., also warned of a possible downgrade, the AP reports. Fed chairman Ben Bernake warned yesterday that default would send "shock waves through the entire financial system." But how dare angry Nobama interrupt fiscally responsible Cantor?!
