Jake Tapper: Hey, Isn't Default Much, Much Worse Than a Short-Term Bridge Deal Which Requires Another Vote on the Debt Limit in 2012?

I just asked this myself, given that Obama seems to be saying that he's willing to put politics above the nation's debt rating.

Remember, Obama didn't walk out and vow to default the country into ruin over the substance of what a deal might look like.

He walked out over Cantor's suggestion that they do a short-term deal to give them time to continue negotiating.

That is what Obama threatened to destroy the credit rating of America over -- over having to continue debating this to find some kind of compromise.

The Tyrant King wants this issue behind him, so he can get back to fundraisin' and campaignin'.

Good for Tapper for asking this.

I was going to quote it, but it's a long exchange -- Carney keeps interrupting him so there's not really any one place where the question is asked. Tapper is forced to ask pieces of it over the span of six or seven utterances.

Carney plainly does not want to answer and winds up not answering.

Actually, let me take a shot at quoting:

APPER: [continuing after interruption] I don't understand this ultimatum that the president brought into the room with him that this needs to extend into 2013.

CARNEY: Because the kind of atmosphere that's created now that has brought us to the brink of doing something that has never been done before is unlikely to improve in an election year. And we are not, as I said before, the kind of country that wants to or should put in doubt in the global economic market -- you know, or raise the question, on a regular basis, whether or not we're going to default on our obligations. I mean, as Caren (Bohan of Reuters) just mentioned, we have rating agencies putting us on warning; I mean, this is not good for our economy. So if we do this regularly, you can bet that it will have a negative impact on our economic prospects, on our growth and our job creation because it creates uncertainty about the economic environment that we're -- that businesses are operating in.

TAPPER: You're comparing it to extending the debt ceiling to 2013. I'm not; I'm comparing it to default. Which is worse? Because the president is saying essentially he would rather have it default than have to vote on this again next year. That doesn't make any sense.

CARNEY: He is saying that leaders should lead, and we have to do the right thing here. You can, as a piece of political analysis, have an opinion about it. The president's position is, this is not what the United States should do --

TAPPER: I’m analyzing your own statements.

CARNEY: -- and he doesn't believe we will do it. And we think -- we think we can get to an agreement that's significant. And remember, this is all because of an arbitrary connection that was established between the amount by which Congress would have to raise the debt ceiling and the amount by which –

[digression omitted]

CARNEY: So -- but Jake, let me answer the question. We do not think that that is the way that this country should operate. The president's made it very clear.

TAPPER: What the president made clear in the meeting was that he will not --

CARNEY: Both are bad; I can't choose which is worse for you.

Carney just said he can't say which is worse -- default or not accommodating the President's politically-motivated timetable.

TAPPER: Really? They -- it -- you can't. Default might not be as bad as voting on this next year?

CARNEY: Jake, I've answered the question.

TAPPER: No, you guys are painting a very cataclysmic picture

CARNEY: Jake --

TAPPER: -- that I'm not challenging -- on how bad a default would be. I don't understand why that is preferable --

CARNEY: Because we don't have to get there. We're not going to default, Jake. We're not going to default. I think I, in the answer to two previous questions before I got to you, made clear that no one in the room thinks we're going to default and the president and the vice president don't think we're going to default. So it's a hypothetical that we don't even have to entertain.

posted by Ace at 03:24 PM

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