In his June 30 op-ed column “The GOP’s trump card,” Marc A. Thiessen stated the Republican position clearly: “If the dire predictions of his Treasury secretary are to be believed, the consequences of a default would be so calamitous that Obama cannot allow it to happen. He must sign whatever debt-limit increase Republicans give him. This means Republicans hold all the cards.”
In other words, the president is at a disadvantage because he must worry about the welfare of the nation, whereas Republicans can ignore that and concentrate on beating Obama. That has been the Republican attitude since President Obama took office, and it goes a long way to explaining why we cannot get out of the mess left by the Bush administration and its congressional allies.