Obama officially owns it: shoots down bipartisan deal to raise debt ceiling

A bipartisan deal was down between the House and Senate. Obama shot it down. For all his talk about not defaulting, if that does happen he now owns it lock, stock and barrel: McConnell: We Had Bipartisan Deal But Obama ‘Rejected It Out of Hand’

"We offered the president a bipartisan proposal to avoid default so that we could have the time we need to put together a serious plan for getting our house in order. He rejected it out of hand."

And via Instapundit:

PRESIDENT MY-WAY-OR-THE-HIGHWAY: President Obama Says “No” To A Bipartisan Debt Plan. “It appears the three key Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle reached a tentative agreement yesterday and the President blew it up.”

From The Washington Examiner: Reid played key role on debt bill before Obama nixed plan

Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid worked closely over the weekend with staff for House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on a bill to resolve the debt-ceiling standoff -- until Reid pulled out after meeting with President Obama at the White House Sunday.

"He and his staff were writing the bill with us," says a senior Republican. "We were still working on it by the time he got back from the White House." Asked whether Reid and his staff were fully involved in the work, the senior Republican replied, "edit after edit after edit." A key GOP aide confirmed the account.

..."I think Reid wants to get this done," says the senior Republican. "The problem is, the White House is so far out on a limb on vetoing anything that doesn't get Obama through the 2012 election that it's now kind of personal."

Kind of self-serving, no? Along those lines from discrimination: Obama: Comedian In Chief

Writing in the New York Post today, Charles Gasparino accuses the White House of purposefully trying to provoke a default, or at least blocking any possibility of a deal to extend the debt ceiling. He offers “two possibilities” by way of explanation:

One: They really mean it. Obama would rather stiff bondholders than cut the size of government. I find that hard to believe, even though he’s devoted his years in office to expanding government so dramatically.

Two: Obama’s crew loves chaos. Remember: These guys rode to victory in 2008 largely because of the financial collapse — and won with promises to lead a moderate economic course that put Americans back to work.

There’s no reason to think these reasons are mutually exclusive. This president has already demonstrated both that he likes to screw bond holders (think handing Chrysler over to the UAW and Fiat) and, as Gasparino argues, that he believes that he can blame any ensuing crisis on the Republicans.

And along that same line of reasoning: White House stokes debt-ceiling crisis. More from  Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Pundit & Pundette, Legal Insurrection and Gateway Pundit