Obama's direct appeal comes on the heels of tough negotiations between himself and congressional Republican leaders. He is also facing an increasingly irate (and many would argue informed) tea-party voting block.
Rep. Joe Walsh, known for saying outlandish and extremely controversial things, posted this video on youtube yesterday:
It appears that the White House warnings about a potential economic catastrophe are falling on deaf ears. Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama's fifth congressional district said yesterday:
“There should be no default on August 2,” Brooks said. “In fact, our credit rating should be improved by not raising the debt ceiling.”These congressman do not get it. They are pandering to a base who does not understand complicated issues. Instead, these people are only willing to digest bumper-sticker slogans; They are able to repeat the term "death panel" thousands of times but have no idea what it means or how large of a lie it is. Congressional Republicans are playing with fire when it comes to pandering about the debt ceiling. If they're not careful (and let's face it, all indications point towards their reckless abandon of economic principles in favor of scoring political points), they will get burned, badly.
