To most of Washington, President Barack Obama's address on the debt ceiling last night was boilerplate, to say the least. For the fourth time in as many weeks, the president explained what the debt ceiling was, emphasized the importance of raising it, outlined his plan for a "balanced" approach of tax increases and spending cuts, and called on Congress to put aside its partisan differences for the sake of the country.
But political junkies weren't the target audience for this address. From its constant refrain of "compromise" to its "pox on both houses" rhetoric, it was aimed at the majority of Americans who don't give much thought to Washington and who aren't engaged with congressional debates. Indeed, in a move intended to present himself as the adult in the room, Obama asked Americans to contact their representatives: "I'm asking you all to make your voice heard. If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of Congress know. If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message."
This is a new direction for the president, who tends not to make direct appeals to the public, but Obama is fooling himself if he thinks it will have an effect on voters, much less on congressional Republicans. Not only is the bully pulpit limited in its persuasive ability -- most research suggests that voters aren't moved by presidential pronouncements -- the GOP is far from ready to compromise, as evidenced by House Speaker John Boehner's response to the president's address. As if to prove Obama's point about partisanship, Boehner, whose address followed the president's, began with a hyper-partisan account of the economic crisis, presenting a story in which government spending was the cause of unemployment and not its salve. He attacked the stimulus package and the Affordable Care Act, and presented "Cut, Cap and Balance" -- a plan to cut federal spending, cap it at 18 percent of gross domestic product, and pass a balanced budget amendment -- as a bipartisan alternative to the president's "balanced" framework, despite its origins in the right-wing Republican Study Committee.
Political speeches like these are always theater, but it's hard to see what both sides expected to gain from the spectacle: Obama and Boehner are still far away from a deal that's acceptable to House Republicans, despite Obama's pre-speech endorsement of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan -- which meets conservatives with $2.7 trillion in cuts and no revenues -- and Obama's own preference for a "grand bargain" in which Democrats would trade a lift in the debt ceiling and revenue increases for entitlement cuts. As we've seen for the last month, House Republicans will reject any offer from the administration, even if it fulfills their goals.
It's cliché, but this fight isn't about policy as much as it is about politics; insofar as House Republicans have a condition for anything, it's that President Obama must suffer. The Republicans elected in last year's takeover of the House are driven purely by opposition to the president -- so much so that GOP lawmakers will only support a deal if it's also a political loser for Obama. Under that condition, it's difficult to see how a compromise happens.
I don't have any concrete evidence, but I'd be shocked if the White House weren't aware of this fact; it's obvious to anyone paying attention. Read in that light, Obama's address was both an attempt to reach out to voters and an early effort to lay blame on Republicans if a deal isn't in place by next Tuesday, when the country will hit its debt limit. Obama wasn't very impassioned about the latter, but that might not matter, at least as politics are concerned; according to the most recent Gallup poll of the subject, 47 percent of Americans say that the president is "putting the country's interests first" on the debt ceiling. In other words, a plurality of Americans are already prepared to blame the GOP for any debt crisis.
For progressives, this might be the silver lining if Congress reaches a debt deal. Otherwise, it's an irrelevant footnote to a renewed economic crisis.
