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Bob Woodward Book: Debt Deal Collapse Led to 'Pure Fury' From President Obama (Drudge)
ABC News ^ | September 5, 2012 | RICK KLEIN

Posted on 09/05/2012 7:11:40 PM PDT by Hojczyk

An explosive mix of dysfunction, miscommunication, and misunderstandings inside and outside the White House led to the collapse of a historic spending and debt deal that President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner were on the verge of reaching last summer, according to revelations in author Bob Woodward's latest book.

The book, "The Price of Politics," on sale Sept. 11, 2012, shows how close the president and the House speaker were to defying Washington odds and establishing a spending framework that included both new revenues and major changes to long-sacred entitlement programs.

But at a critical juncture, with an agreement tantalizingly close, Obama pressed Boehner for additional taxes as part of a final deal – a miscalculation, in retrospect, given how far the House speaker felt he'd already gone.

The president called three times to speak with Boehner about his latest offer, according to Woodward. But the speaker didn't return the president's phone call for most of an agonizing day, in what Woodward calls a "monumental communications lapse" between two of the most powerful men in the country.

When Boehner finally did call back, he jettisoned the entire deal. Obama lost his famous cool, according to Woodward, with a "flash of pure fury" coming from the president; one staffer in the room said Obama gripped the phone so tightly he thought he would break it.

"He was spewing coals," Boehner told Woodward, in what is described as a borderline "presidential tirade."

"He was pissed…. He wasn't going to get a damn dime more out of me. He knew how far out on a limb I was. But he was hot. It was clear to me that coming to an agreement with him was not going to happen, and that I had to go to Plan B."

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bobwoodward; boehner; debtdeal; nationaldebt; obama
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To: Hojczyk

21 posted on 09/05/2012 7:32:58 PM PDT by tumblindice (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: hinckley buzzard

Bowles, Simpson scoff at 1.6% budget cuts

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/03/07/video-bowles-simpson-scoff-at-1-6-budget-cuts/

Obama skips debt commission meeting (Dec. 2010)

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Obama did not attend a White House meeting Thursday with members of his own debt commission, irking some of the Democrats on the panel who were expecting a high-level push from the commander-in-chief to show that its comprehensive deficit reduction plan is being taken seriously by the White House.

“He should have at least dropped by,” one Democratic member of the debt commission told CNN, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he wanted to speak more freely about the panel’s private meeting.

A second senior Democratic aide close to the panel added that commission members were miffed and privately believe the President did not attend because it would have been awkward “given the fact that he has just endorsed $900 billion in deficit spending” with the tax cut deal.

http://whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/09/obama-skips-debt-commission-meeting/

yeah, he cares.

Why have a deficit commission if you ignore them?


22 posted on 09/05/2012 7:35:00 PM PDT by TurboZamboni (Looting the future to bribe the present)
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To: Exit148

That was from Jay Leno’s show


23 posted on 09/05/2012 7:38:01 PM PDT by Sgt_Schultze (A half-truth is a complete lie)
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To: Cicero

That is how I see it. Boehner is shameful.


24 posted on 09/05/2012 7:38:28 PM PDT by rlmorel ("It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong." Voltaire)
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To: Hojczyk

Shades of Arafat, Ehud Barak, and Clinton on peace deal. Remember Arafat had way more than envisioned but wanted more still. Typical for power hungry madmen.


25 posted on 09/05/2012 7:38:37 PM PDT by taterjay
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To: God luvs America
“The administration didn’t seem to have a strategy. It was unbelievable. There didn’t seem to be any core principles,” Woodward writes in describing Van Hollen’s thinking."

So...the secret is out.

26 posted on 09/05/2012 7:40:36 PM PDT by lbryce (BHO-"Now, I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds" by way of Oppenheimer at Trinity, NM)
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To: Hojczyk

“But at a critical juncture, with an agreement tantalizingly close, Obama pressed Boehner for additional taxes as part of a final deal – just as his masters HARRY REID and NANCY PELOSI told him to LOL!

From then on Boehner dealt with the people in charge- HARRY REID and NANCY PELOSI. Dealing with Obama was a waste of time. There was no way Obama could or would do anything but what his masters told him to do.

Woodward knows Harry and Nancy pulled the strings in Obama’s term. An ‘empty chair’ indeed.


27 posted on 09/05/2012 7:40:55 PM PDT by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat Party!)
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To: Hardraade

I’ll bet the little faggot swings a pretty mean purse.


28 posted on 09/05/2012 7:41:10 PM PDT by Newtoidaho (Fight organized crime. Vote out all incumbent Democrats!)
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To: Hojczyk

” - - - But after the breakthrough agreement fell apart, Boehner’s “Plan B” would ultimately exclude the president from most of the key negotiations. The president was “voted off the island,” in Woodward’s phrase, even by members of his own party, as congressional leaders patched together an eleventh hour framework to avoid default.”

Looks like Woodward thinks that Obama has become irrelevant.

Well, except for the golf course staff, of course!


29 posted on 09/05/2012 7:41:18 PM PDT by Graewoulf ((Traitor John Roberts' Obama"care" violates Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND the U.S. Constitution.))
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To: Sgt_Schultze

Thanks. It looked real and it was real — but just for the comedy of it. (But I bet he really feels that way!!)


30 posted on 09/05/2012 7:45:54 PM PDT by Exit148
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To: SE Mom; onyx

Thanks very much for the ping and I will read in the morning!

Pinging myself so I will remember.

:)


31 posted on 09/05/2012 7:46:19 PM PDT by onyx (FREE REPUBLIC IS HERE TO STAY! DONATE MONTHLY! IF YOU WANT ON SARAH PALIN''S PING LIST, LET ME KNOW)
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To: tumblindice
Now somebody needs to animate that face with the "That's racist" image...


32 posted on 09/05/2012 7:47:05 PM PDT by lightman (Settling for the "lesser of two..." is still choosing Evil)
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To: taterjay
Remember Arafat had way more than envisioned but wanted more still.

Yeah. He wanted Farney Brank on a dog collar. But that's where Clinton drew the line.


33 posted on 09/05/2012 7:48:32 PM PDT by lbryce (BHO-"Now, I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds" by way of Oppenheimer at Trinity, NM)
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To: Hojczyk

A tax hike to far.


34 posted on 09/05/2012 7:50:20 PM PDT by depressed in 06 (6 November, 2012, the day our embarrassment is sent back to Kenya.)
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To: Hojczyk

Boy, reading this article really paints Obama as a fool who doesn’t know how to negotiate in good faith.


35 posted on 09/05/2012 7:52:54 PM PDT by goodolemr
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To: Hojczyk

Someone needs to inform the boy president that he temporarily represents ONE and only one branch of the federal government. He’s not a king. He gets a phone call when he gets a phone call.


36 posted on 09/05/2012 7:54:14 PM PDT by .45 Long Colt
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To: hinckley buzzard
I don't believe a word of it. Woodward mostly writes political fiction.

Roger that. The aide saying that Obama was gripping the phone so tightly he thought it might break??? You can ascertain that visually? I just don't think it's true.

Woodward's whole career is based on lies.

37 posted on 09/05/2012 7:54:36 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (ua)
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To: ClearCase_guy

I don’t doubt that people in the White Hut told Woodward some of this, but I suspect it was mostly lies thought to make him appear engaged and tough. I believe the truth is he is neither engaged nor tough.


38 posted on 09/05/2012 8:03:22 PM PDT by .45 Long Colt
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To: Hojczyk

Barack had a tantrum and Boehner caved.


39 posted on 09/05/2012 8:05:53 PM PDT by cotton1706
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To: ClearCase_guy

Sounds like someone still doing blow. Bad very bad


40 posted on 09/05/2012 8:15:05 PM PDT by magua
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