Civil War in The Republican Big Tent

While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was offering up his convoluted plan to save the GOP from itself, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) dug in his "no-deal with taxes" heels. The debt limit talks at the White House yesterday were characterized as a "blow-up" by republican talking heads. Cantor essentially suggested that President Obama is an intemperate, Angry Black Male. This from the Washington Post:

Those talks ended on an angry note when Obama and Cantor disagreed over the length of the proposed debt-ceiling increase. Cantor had been urging a short-term extension that would require Congress to vote a second time on the unpopular measure before the 2012 election. The president lectured about the need to drop political posturing, saying several times, “Enough is enough,” according to Democratic officials with knowledge of the closed-door meeting.

“The president told me, ‘Eric, don’t call my bluff. You know I’m going to take this to the American people,’ ” Cantor said. “He then walked out.”

But as he left, Obama added: “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

David Rogers at Politico continues:

A blow-up between Obama and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at the end of Wednesday’s White House negotiating session captured the building tension. “He’s frustrated, we’re all frustrated,” Cantor said, describing the president as “abruptly walking out.” Democrats took a different slant: “He (Obama) lit up Eric Cantor like he’s never been lit up,” said one in the room.

 So Angry...So Black...So Liberal. 

It's been reported that Senator Harry Reid and some rank-and-file dems have embraced McConnell's plan as a compromise they're willing to accept in order to avoid default. This scheme has obvious benefits for congressional republicans. Obama is tasked with raising the debt-limit in increments, essentially through a procedural maneuver that is almost certain to require a veto of the nay votes sure to be cast by House republicans. McConnell argued on the Laura Ingraham radio show that if the Administration pivoted to this strategy, republicans will be able to remove the stain of current economic malaise; thus protecting the republican brand ahead of the 2012 election cycle.

Conversely, Cantor has continued to kowtow to the ultra-conservative, Tea Party faction in the House, and has in fact seemed to harden his official position in recent days. Rather than moving towards the center in reaching a compromise on the budget, Cantor has continuously attempted to frame the debate in terms of dramatic spending cuts, absent any new revenue (aka tax increases), that takes a hacksaw to so-called big government, no matter what the economic and social cost. The full faith and credit of the United States seems to take a backseat to Cantor's political posturing:

Critics said he has been petulant in his dealings with the White House, and in positioning himself to the political right of Boehner whenever possible. They point to him walking out on the Biden talks, dominating nearly a week’s worth of discussions with the president and congressional leaders and complaining about being kept in the dark on the Obama-Boehner talks.

“He lost a lot of credibility when he walked away from the table … It was childish,” said one House Republican with close ties to Cantor who spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve their friendship. “This is his time to perform.”

This sort of sick intransigence serves no one. But it begs the question. What is it about our unique political culture that gives rise to such white-knuckle brinkmanship?

Thinking of A Masterplan!

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Thinkin' of a master plan
'Cuz ain't nuthin' but sweat inside my hand
So I dig into my pocket, all my money is spent
So I dig deeper but still comin' up with lint

So I start my mission, leave my residence
Thinkin' how could I get some dead presidents
I need money, I used to be a stick-up kid
So I think of all the devious things I did

I used to roll up, this is a hold up, ain't nuthin' funny
Stop smiling, be still, don't nuthin' move but the money

--Eric B. and Rakim "Paid in Full"

Apt lyrics to describe our current debt debate, right?

In yet another predictable attempt to pass the economic buck to the White House, Senator Mitch McConnell produced a labyrinthine plan to raise the debt ceiling while simultaneously avoiding collateral damage to the republican brand. David Dayen at The New Prospect explains it this way:

McConnell’s proposal would create a byzantine system for raising the debt ceiling: The House and Senate would first pass a bill that authorizes the president to submit a request to increase the debt limit, first by $700 billion, then in additional installments of $900 billion a piece. In each case, the president would have to concurrently submit a separate plan to reduce spending by an equal or greater amount. That’s the last we see of those spending plans; they are purely hypothetical, and they play no role in the rest of the legislative machinations. Congress wouldn’t have to vote on them. So, in this proposal, Republicans give up their ability to use the debt limit to force fiscal policy changes.

Once the president requests the first debt-limit increase, the House and Senate can use what is known as a resolution of disapproval to try to block it. If the resolution passes both houses of Congress, it moves to the president. But Obama can choose to veto the resolution of disapproval, and overriding that veto would require a two-thirds vote in each chamber. This means that a minority of 34 senators or 146 House members can sustain Obama’s veto, which would result in the $700 billion increase in the debt limit going through. The same process carries for the additional installments.

The fact is that this plan has a singular purpose. The foremost concern is the protection of the "republican brand". Not Americans, not jobs, not even our credit rating. Now naturally Senator McConnell cloaks this scheme in rhetoric about saving our country from economic devastation, but this proposal is clearly a maneuver aimed at symbolically distancing republicans from our collective economic destiny (should it turn out to be dismal). By essentially forcing the Prez to take the reins of this budget bronco and ride, congressional republicans can take credit for eliminating further gridlock. The New York Times described McConnell's position this way (emphasis added):

Recounting how the 1995 government shutdown helped President Bill Clinton win re-election the next year, Mr. McConnell said any impasse that hurt the nation’s credit and led to government checks being delayed could have the same result for President Obama.

“He will say Republicans are making the economy worse,” Mr. McConnell, who is recognized as one of his party’s top political strategists, said in an interview with the radio host Laura Ingraham.

“It is an argument that he could have a good chance of winning and all of the sudden we have co-ownership of the economy. That is a very bad position going into the election.”

Such a nakedly cynical move.