Mandark, I agree with you on the ACA for the most part, but do you really think Obama needed to cave on the debt ceiling? Sure, I wouldn't put it past Republicans to destroy the economy for political points, but the problem with fucking up the economy is that it would fuck over their base (Wall Street/other richies) as well, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want that to happen.
Boehner is roughly in the same position that Newt was back in 95, with a lot of zealous freshmen, high expectations, and a crazy activist base who hate the president. He wants to avoid disasters while keeping his leadership spot, which puts him in a bind. There are enough cranks in his caucus that he can't rely on most of them seeing reason, calls from the Chamber of Commerce be damned.
I don't know how the forces balance out, but the idea that
of course the House GOP will do the right thing and Obama can afford to take a completely hard line and come out like roses is just magical thinking.
Who wants to argue that Republican officials can be counted on not to inadvertently fuck over the economy by sticking to their dogma? Or that Obama won't take a huge chunk of the blame no matter what the shape of negotiations?
For that matter, who wants to pull a Cheebs and act like they actually know what the fuck is going on in private negotiations? Remember the last few cries of "CAVING!" we heard? During the tax extension compromise that not just netted a secondary stimulus, but ratification of START and a repeal of DADT as well? Or the emergency budget resolution, where all of the spending cuts turned out to be smoke and mirrors?
Seriously dude. In a few months you'll be saying "Okay, fine. Maybe the ACA and FinReg and the tax extensions and budget resolution and debt ceiling negotiations were okay deals considering the circumstances. But
this cave-in that hasn't even happened yet proves that Obama's a huge pussy or seekrit Republican and a real liberal could turn this country into Sweden through sheer willpower. If I were king of the jungle..."