Obama's options

President Obama , for now, is demanding either a sweeping plan to cut spending and raise revenue or a simple raising of the debt ceiling. This is exactly what he should be asking for. Republicans want to tie things to the raising of the debt ceiling, but only the things that interest them. We’ll leave aside the issue of what interests them (goals which seem to be inspired by a thoughtless crusade for smaller government just for the sake of smaller government) to focus on this more basic problem with their approach. They reject the assertion that the debt ceiling should be simply raised without considering budget issues, an assertion many Republicans made when the President was a Republican. They also reject any consideration of anything that doesn’t shrink government and/or cut spending. They don’t just want consideration of the budget while debating the debt ceiling; they want a major piece of their own agenda to be adopted without any compromise to the visions and goals of Democrats. They don’t want to try to tackle the real problems or secure any long term goals; they just want to cut spending. That’s the real issue … Republicans aren’t acting as if they truly want to solve problems, and are instead championing a narrow ideological agenda. President Obama, at least for right now, seems to be asking for something more.