Over-thinking Obama

As usual, the Chattering Class is over-thinking President Obama's intent in his debt ceiling address to the nation last night.

TNR's Jon Chait: "I'm not really sure what Obama was trying to accomplish in his speech. I thought he would try to find some kind of lowest common denominator between the Reid and Boehner plans that would stand a chance of passing Congress. He didn't. Instead he appealed once again to the Grand Bargain. If Obama thinks Congress will pass something like that, he's nuts. ... The most rational explanation for Obama's speech is that he's positioning himself for failure. He's explaining his position so that when Congress fails to lift the debt ceiling, Americans will blame the Republicans and not him. Maybe in the meantime some small deal can arise."

Nice try. But Obama wasn't speaking to the know-it-all pundits (who actually have no idea what is in the president's head). He was educating the American people about what the Republicans have wrought. And yes, he's deftly positioning himself politically to deflect blame. That said, Obama will do whatever it takes to force Congress into raising the debt ceiling. And it probably won't be pretty.