“How can you explain this? How can you explain the fact that grown men and women are unwilling to budge...by taking an absolute position: my way or no way. That’s not governing.”
Which career politician said this during debt limit negotiations in 2011? Lead negotiator Joe Biden.
Now, of course, Biden is the one taking a “my way or no way” position, saying the debt limit should be raised “without conditions” and “no negotiation.” That’s not how this works — and Biden knows it.
Back in 2011, Biden repeatedly acknowledged the importance of negotiating a debt limit increase — realizing “it’s in everyone’s interest politically to cooperate.”
Biden, who expressed how “pleased and thankful” he was to be negotiating with the new Republican House majority, said it was to important to “understand where the other guy is coming from.”
A few months later, Biden admitted it was crucial to make “certain compromises” in what he called a “normal” process. He added that some people need to “learn that they have to have compromise.”
And after securing a deal, what did Biden call the negotiations? A “great honor.”
What changed? Does Biden not remember or is he just playing politics?
