President Obama admits/concedes he underestimated the magnitude of the recession.

9th Circuit bars the Pentagon from enforcing DADT.

As we know, Congress voted last year to get rid of the DADT policy. But that left it up to the Pentagon to come up with a timeline and approach to switching policies. This means no enforcement as of today.

Obama on invoking 14th Amendment in debt crisis: Not yet, but who knows?

Bill Clinton compares the GOP’s crackdown on voting rights to the days of Jim Crow.

Painful to read. From David Frum …

Then, as Republicans discovered the power of their new tool, the president decided to assume they were bluffing, that they would never actually do anything so reckless. Waking up to the reality of the situation too late, he commenced bargaining by offering what he assumed would be an irresistible deal. Wrong again. The Republicans did resist. So Obama offered an even better deal — which predictably only whetted the GOP appetite for still more.

Obama never publicly branded the debt ceiling as “if the Republicans force this country into bankruptcy.” He issued no public call to constituencies like the financial industry to bring pressure to bear on the issue. He did not warn that he would manage any crisis in ways that Republicans would not like. (“If the Republicans in Congress deny me the authority to pay everybody, then I’m going to have to choose some priorities. I don’t think it’s likely that Texas-based defense contractors will find themselves at the top of my list.”)
Instead, he appealed again and again to Republicans’ spirit of responsibility.

Good luck with that.

There have been two late, but perhaps Earth-moving developments tonight in the debt fight that continues to dominate national politics. At a minimum, we’re watching the White House float the mother of all trial balloons. Alternatively, we’re seeing the first signs that the groundwork’s been laid, behind the scenes, for a huge tax and spending deal that includes big revenue raisers and significantly larger entitlement cuts. Read More

Republicans say wealthy Americans can contribute to deficit reduction by keeping their taxes low.

She’s the toast of the GOP primary field and now the Thatcher biopic with Meryl Streep in the lead role is about to debut. Trailer after the jump … Read More

Taxes remain the big unknown in what the proposed grand bargain. Get our very latest report on what we know as of right now.

Beyond all the sound and fury of the current political debate, the core reasons behind the current political impasse are structural, driven by the increasingly ideological make up of the Republican party. It’s what makes the party particularly powerful in a vamped-up mid-term election and also virtually incapable of any compromise in a legislative context. Read More