Despite the fact that Boehner has taken his toys and gone home, keep in mind the debt ceiling will still be raised. I'll post video of Obama's press conference when it's up (
here it is). Boehner will have his own at 7:15 pm ET:
Reid and McConnell are currently collaborating on a backup plan to allow Obama to raise the debt limit by $2.4 trillion in three installments without prior approval by Congress.
I think Boehner was losing cred with the tea party because the media were reporting Obama and Boehner found some common ground.
Gridlock stubbornly held the high ground in the steamy capital Friday, as Republican House Speaker John Boehner called President Barack Obama to announce that he is withdrawing from the debt ceiling talks.
"In the end, we couldn't connect. Not because of different personalities, but because of different visions for our country," said the speaker in a letter to House members, explaining his position. He promised to continue talks with congressional leaders.
Obama responded by appearing in the briefing room of the White House Friday evening, saying he was perplexed by Boehner's actions.
"This was an extraordinary fair deal," said the president. "If it was unbalanced, it was unbalanced in the direction of not enough revenue."
He said Republicans need to ask themselves, "What can they say 'yes' to?"
"We have now run out of time," said Obama. He called bipartisan negotiators back to the White House on Saturday morning.
"I expect them to have an answer in terms of how they intend to get this thing done in the course of the next week. The American people expect action," Obama said. Read more
