You get the sense that over the last 24 hours there’s been a decisive shift in the debt ceiling negotiations away from a House-dominated process that was going nowhere to a Senate dominated-process that may find a way out of these deadlocked negotiations. The true turning point may have come a week or so ago, but the shift was hard to detect then and I don’t think there’s any denying it now.
President Obama signaled as much in his brief appearance before the White House press corps this afternoon. The ongoing talks in the Senate among the “Gang of Six” — or whatever number you care to slot in there — also indicate potential movement.
But let me be clear, as the President might say. We’re still a long way from a deal. And it’s still very difficult to discern whether it will be a good deal in policy terms. That’s what our reporters are working on now, teasing out the contours of the deal in its initial stages and putting a cold eye not merely to whether it can get the votes but whether it makes sense on its own terms to achieve the desired ends — and whether those ends are sound.
