Making Congress eat its peas

President Obama is often accused of being the inscrutable Mr. Spock. In reality, he's more like Jean-Luc Picard, the erudite but wily Enterprise captain who enjoys a good knife fight now and again -- both to keep his reflexes sharp and his enemies off-balanced. Put another way, Obama, like Picard, is a thinking man's James T. Kirk (which is what the creators had in mind for Sir Patrick Stewart's character).

At this morning's debt-ceiling presser, the president was in full Picard-Kirk mode, playfully daring the opposition to make an ill-considered move: "I will not sign a 30-day or a 60-day or a 90-day extension. That is just not an acceptable approach," Mr. Obama said, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Waiting will only make it harder, he gently scolded. "So we might as well do it now -- pull off the Band-Aid; eat our peas. (Laughter.) Now is the time to do it. If not now, when?"

Joe Klein observed that Obama "was masterful ... He was in the position he likes best: way above both parties, asking sacrifices from all, the grownup in a roomful of Congressional infants. He almost seemed to be enjoying himself, which is nice – he deserves a little pleasure amidst the trash talk. I suspect that he suspects a $2 trillion or so deal can be had ..."

I agree. And Obama was indeed enjoying himself today. It's his default position just before he makes that game-winning, 3-point shot. It's too early to draw conclusions, of course, but I suspect we're witnessing some big history being made. Time will tell.