Charles Krauthammer told viewers Thursday on “Special Report with Bret Baier” that President Obama’s reluctance to accept House Speaker John Boehner’s compromise proposal for a six- week clean debt ceiling increase amounted to a “bait and switch here on the part of the Obama administration.”
“Obama was quite clear on Tuesday where he said he had been demanding up until now, you give me a one year extension on the debt, or I'm not going to talk, ” said Krauthammer, a syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor.
“So, the President offered an off ramp, in which he said ‘I will accept any length of extension’ meaning: I'll accept just a technical one, a short one, a couple of weeks. And that offered a compromise so they could start negotiations. He gets a debt ceiling increase so he can say, ‘well, now I can talk.’ Boehner is able to engage in negotiations, with what would be a trivial extension.
“So, Boehner has his offer, he goes in to see the president, you would expect that he would then have a six-week extension and discuss all of these issues. What seems to have happened is there are now demands from the president, on the reopening of the government, which was not what they had said earlier in the week, which is why I think they are stuck now."
Krauthammer told viewers Boehner and his caucus should stand their ground. “I think the Republicans ought to stand fast on this. We're offering you six weeks, we're offering an opportunity for real negotiations on debt, the reductions, all kind of other stuff, eminently reasonable and I hope they don't budge on this,” he said.
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