Debt ceiling talks stalled again on Weds as each side continues to stand their ground. McConnell already blinked. How long before Cantor blinks?
Senator McConnell is trying to find a way to avoid a self-inflicted crisis. That his maneuver is likely not constitutional (a risk that it could be overturned at a subsequent time were it utilized) does not take away from his trying to help the nation avoid what would be an entirely self-inflicted crisis. It is incorrect and unfair to describe his trying to craft a fallback position as his "blinking."
Of course, it's easy for some of the pundits on the sidelines, who have no responsibility for the consequences of their rhetoric to posture without limitation. The policy makers, on the other hand, don't have that luxury. They are confronted with having to make a grave decision with an increasingly tight timeframe. They will bear the burden of the consequences of their decisions. Hence, it is the pundits who take the cowardly approach, as they have nothing at stake. It is policy makers such as Senator McConnell who take the more courageous path.
In fact, perhaps in part due to those very same loud elements on the sidelines, the opportunity for a "grand bargain" that was perhaps within reach, one that would have resulted in far more deficit reduction than is now likely, has been lost. Those loud elements wanted even more concessions than what is politically feasible at the time. Some of them wanted nothing less than total capitulation to their increasingly theological terms.
Aesop offers a fable of a dog carrying meat. When it was crossing a river, it saw its own reflection. Craving a second piece of meat, it lunged for the meat in the reflection. Consequently, it lost the meat it was carrying. More than likely the loud posturing from the sidelines led to a terrible overreach, a lunge for more fiscal meat. As a result, the opportunity for an imperfect but far more robust deficit-reduction package was lost. In coming days or weeks, once the political fury of the current moment dies down, a relative mouse of a deal will more than likely emerge.
As a consequence, the nation will likely remain on an unsustainable fiscal trajectory. Ironically, those who have been yelling loudest from the sidelines in pursuit of almost theological terms ("thou shalt not raise any taxes whatsoever" and "thou shalt not touch any entitlement programs whatsoever"), some of whom claim to crave fiscal responsibility, will have contributed to the loss of perhaps several trillion dollar in foregone fiscal savings. As they don't bear the responsibility for their actions, the outcome will be of little consequence for them. They will posture on when the occasion presents itself. In the meantime, the nation will bear the direct consquences of foregone fiscal consolidation.