Obama: "I have been left at the altar" on debt talks

LEFT AT THE ALTAR: To say Obama seems irritated over the breakdown of debt talks with John Boehner might be considered something of an understatement. At a news conference, the president (in my view, quite rightly) queried, "Can they [Republicans] say yes to anything?...I have been left at the altar a couple of times now."

Boehner reportedly fired back in a press conference of his own, saying: "Dealing with the White House is like dealing with a bowl of Jello...It’s the president who walked away from his agreement and demanded more money at the last minute." Andrew Sullivan, to name one, was thoroughly disappointed, and lamented the Republicans' inability to come to some form of agreement. "But this is who they are. I longed for Obama to bridge this gulf in ideology. But he cannot bridge it alone, especially when the GOP is determined to burn the bridge entirely, even when presented with a deal so tilted to the right only true fanatics could possibly walk away from it. And so the very republic is being plunged into crisis and possible depression by a single, implacable, fanatical faction. Until they are defeated, the country remains in more peril than we know." Agreed.

THE HEATED CONFERENCE: Jonathan Chait on Obama's change in persona during the press conference. "Perhaps what's more interesting is the tone of Obama's press conference. It was the most heated I'd ever seen him. And it was also the first time I can recall that he fully abandoned his stance as above the fray and spoke as the leader of the Democratic Party. This was not a total break with his familiar persona. There was still the imploring his opponents to compromise, insisting upon his reasonableness. But he assailed Republicans for refusing to compromise, for failing even to consider the public good as opposed to the pressure of conservative activists." I would agree with that.