Originally Posted by ijusluvit

I thought I'd hitchhike on djplong's latest thread suggesting the President might have had some connection to the recent job growth in the auto industry, but those who still see him as the All-Time Scourge From Hell quickly attacked the very idea. And as usual, there was little factual information, just a categorical denial that Obama could possibly have had any connection or positive influence on anything.

So I'll start a new thread. Maybe I'll get the same responses, but this is a larger issue, a potential "home run", if Obama can pull it off. Maybe some tiny modicum of respect might be extended by the respondents, even if just for the effort.

I'm talking about the "Deal" leading to raising the debt ceiling. We're down to the wire and some predict that default is inevitable. Congress has been haggling over 2 trillion in spending cuts. Suddenly it leaks that the President has taken a 4 trillion dollar plan to the House Speaker, with cuts in Medicare and Defense, some sort of tolerable tweaking of Social Security, and monumentally, some closing of loopholes and allowing tax credits to expire for the most wealthy corporations and individuals. Some pretty good thinkers here have despaired that Congress and the President could ever pull off anything like this.

So here's my prediction: I think it's going to happen. A spending cut plan substantially larger than 2 trillion will be proposed, passed and signed to accompany a debt ceiling increase. It will take the pressure off, the markets will rise, unemployment will continue to decrease and Obama will be reelected. We will hear of longer range plans to further reduce debt which will make us all feel just a little better.

During and after, lots of really knowledgable experienced folks will give Obama the major credit for pushing this daring, necessary plan, breaking the Congressional logjam, and helping it finally get done.

So, until this plays out, I don't even care if somebody says "hogwash".