James Buchanan literally had the country fall apart during his term of office. George W. Bush had September 11th, Katrina, at least one war under phoney pretenses, and the greatest economic collapse this side of the Great Depression. For that matter, Hoover had the Great Depression.

So maybe i'm being hyperbolic. But how did we get to the point where our choices are either more economic collapse or cutting our social safety programs?

The average duration of unemployment today is nine months and employers are not hiring people with gaps in their employment records. Those people are without insurance. Many are hanging on the best they can until they can go on Medicare. Many are on Medicaid. And Obama wants to raise the Medicare age to compromise with Republicans on what should be a routine vote? Cut Medicaid? Cut social security (which isn't even a factor in the debt debate)?

And let's remember that whether Obama "wins" or "loses", those unemployed people aren't being helped. This is entirely the wrong issue to be discussing right now. Obama hasn't made that point. He's still talking about "when times are tough, families tighten their belts, and the government needs to do the same" which is exactly wrong.

Obama is now urging voters to contact their congresspeople and demand that we make this grand compromise. No thanks! But where was this call to arms for a larger stimulus package that would have reduced unemployment? For a public option that would have reduced medical costs - which is the main cause of our long term debt?

Krugman says we've got a known danger and an unknown danger and we might as well go with the unknown. There's also the theory that the entire debt ceiling law is unconstitutional and the Treasury can just continue paying its bills regardless. So a smart or clever or brave president still has options, and therefore bargaining power. But Obama keeps going to the Republicans with "here's everything you want", which just encourages them to ask for even more. So we're screwed.

Let me be clear*: The Republicans are obviously the ones who are causing this mess. But Republican opposition should have been anticipated months and years ago. Instead it's been endless attempts at a compromise, on every issue, and that's entirely Obama's fault. It's a failure of leadership.

Update: Yglesias takes issue with people blaming the president. Says blame congress instead. And i do blame all the Democrats for being cowards and chumps. But Obama is the leader of the party. It's his cautious strategy that informs Congressional Dems' tactics.

*Heh.