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Bob Woodward book blames Obama for debt deal collapse
American Thinker ^ | 09/06/2012 | Rick Moran

Posted on 09/06/2012 6:43:22 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Read the entire 7,000 word ABC News story to get a grasp of Obama's incompetence in dealing with a major negotiation. Absolutely breathtaking:

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.


(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bobwoodward; debt; genesperling; nationaldebt; obama; obamadebt; partisanmediashills; sequester; woodward
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To: thingumbob

Boehner gets far too much respect on FR IMO.

He’s s slithery snake who should be replaced in the next Congress.

(Though I very much doubt that will happen.)


21 posted on 09/06/2012 7:39:33 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: SeekAndFind

The trouble with tax raising agreements is that they usually rely on cutting spending in the future and raising taxes today. While today’s Congress has control over today’s spending, it does not control a future Congress, which is autonomous and free to ignore an agreement from today’s Congress.


22 posted on 09/06/2012 7:42:18 AM PDT by Sgt_Schultze (A half-truth is a complete lie)
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To: 9YearLurker

If more tea partiers get elected in this cycle....he just might be out as leader. I don’t care if he gets re-elected (Not sure but I think he was challenged but won in the primary), I just don’t want him for leader anymore.


23 posted on 09/06/2012 7:45:41 AM PDT by thingumbob (I'm a bitter clinger...I dare you to take my gun)
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To: thingumbob

Oh, I agree. He’s fine for his district, just a disaster anywhere in the leadership.


24 posted on 09/06/2012 7:47:14 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: what's up
He lost me when he supported the first bailout in 2008...I was screaming at his office warning that it was a set up when I lived in OHIO!

Nuff said!

25 posted on 09/06/2012 7:47:36 AM PDT by thingumbob (I'm a bitter clinger...I dare you to take my gun)
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To: 9YearLurker

In the article they talk about Cantor and the tea Party.......I think he might be the likely successor.


26 posted on 09/06/2012 7:49:52 AM PDT by thingumbob (I'm a bitter clinger...I dare you to take my gun)
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To: thingumbob
Doesn't mean he "lost his spine" or was "selling us out" on the debt deal.

He was doing what conservatives generally want, yet still people use this dumb rhetoric.

27 posted on 09/06/2012 8:01:22 AM PDT by what's up
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To: what's up
Okay... You win..

He just occasionaly misplaces it.....

28 posted on 09/06/2012 8:04:46 AM PDT by thingumbob (I'm a bitter clinger...I dare you to take my gun)
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To: thingumbob

Too bad. Cantor strikes me as more of a snake than Boehner, though he’s at least playing it a little closer to tea party positions.


29 posted on 09/06/2012 8:46:36 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: cotton1706
I'm starting to feel Woodward’s a force to be reckoned with .. The real deal - a liberal intellectual. Aren't many of 'em left anymore.

Much of the press acts like they're intellectuals - but they 'coincidentally' come up with the same lines at the same time. A group-think. And attitude - heave on 'style' ... A group-think that's transparent.

Are the real thinkers behind their words working at dem PR Firms - like the one James Carville runs? Is the press being fed?

The food chain: dem PR firm to the New York Times to newspapers to TV pretty heads? Eight people in the United States doing the thinking on that side? How long until the press has to use teleprompters too? Not even empty suits anymore - empty minds.

30 posted on 09/06/2012 8:50:45 AM PDT by GOPJ (Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading - T. Jefferson)
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To: Perdogg; thingumbob; LS; AuH2ORepublican
Your right Perdogg - the book speaks of Obama's character flaws that influence policy in a bad way. There's no reason to focus on Boehner - but I've seen the same type comment on other threads.. odd.

I'm starting to feel Woodward’s a force to be reckoned with .. The real deal - a liberal intellectual. Aren't many of 'em left anymore.

Much of the press acts like they're intellectuals - but they 'coincidentally' come up with the same lines at the same time. A group-think. And attitude - heavy on 'style' ... A group-think that's transparent.

Are the real thinkers behind their words working at dem PR Firms - like the one James Carville runs? Is the press being fed?

The food chain: dem PR firm to the New York Times to newspapers to TV pretty heads? Eight people in the United States doing the thinking on that side? Not even empty suits anymore - empty minds.

31 posted on 09/06/2012 8:57:32 AM PDT by GOPJ (Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading - T. Jefferson)
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To: GOPJ
Much of the press acts like they're intellectuals - but they 'coincidentally' come up with the same lines at the same time. A group-think

Nope...just Media Matters.

32 posted on 09/06/2012 9:17:18 AM PDT by thingumbob (I'm a bitter clinger...I dare you to take my gun)
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