Thursday, October 3, 2013

Uh-huh. But...Obama

Here's a paragraph from Paul Krugman's blog this morning:
In other words, GOP leaders fundamentally misjudged the situation (and Obama’s incentives). And now they have backed themselves into a position where they don’t know how to back down — they have to extract concessions or they’ll have been “disrespected,” in a situation where Obama simply can’t make any concessions without destroying his own credibility and betraying the fundamental norms of governance. 
That sounds so nice. But anyone who's been following Obama's mercurial career knows that, when pressured, he's willing to give the farm away -- even when Republicans haven't asked for it. This means we have no assurance that he'll stand firm.

Yes, Obama wants the Affordable Care Act to stand so that in his old age, he can say: look what I did! But what is he willing to give away in order to keep it? That's a scary question to contemplate. Do I trust Obama's judgement? Of course not.