Time for Obama to be feared by the Tea Party

Time for Obama to be feared by the Tea Party:

"Progressives and other peeved supporters of President Obama who aren’t happy with the all-cuts-no-revenue deal to raise the debt ceiling need to see it as the beginning of a very long (and necessary) process to get the nation’s fiscal house in order.

But it also means that the president will have to be more aggressive in his use of presidential power. In short, I want him to use everything the bully pulpit has to offer to get what he wants, including shutting down the government if he must. After what we just went through to avert economic catastrophe, padlocking Washington ain’t no big thing.

Ruth Marcus runs down all the opportunities Obama will have to take a stand.

The coming crisis points are manifold. The current spending deal — the one reached on the brink of government shutdown — expires in September. Extended unemployment benefits run out at the end of the year. The temporary cut in the payroll tax expires.

I like the way Marcus described the harrowing drama of the last few weeks. She decried it as part of the new normal here in Washington: “endless rounds of legislative carjacking” where “]o]ne side wanted the car, had a gun and wasn’t afraid — certainly not afraid enough — to use it. The other had a child in the back seat.”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ..."