Conservative columnist George Will argued Sunday that the Tea Party movement needs to recognize that things don’t change overnight in Washington.
“The problem is, the Tea Party movement, which doesn’t understand the fundamental paradox, which is if Washington were as easy to turn around as they seem to think it is, we wouldn’t need the Tea Party movement which we do,” Will said on ABC’s “This Week” while discussing the debt ceiling debate. “The president did not get elected to cut entitlement programs, to cut anything for that matter. He has proposed — the only thing he’s been specific about: $2 billion of spending cuts in 2012. That’s a rounding error in the GM bailout.” (George Will on Dem debt ceiling alarm tactics: ‘Apocalypse’ card has been overplayed)
ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Jonathan Karl questioned the GOP’s strategy on the talks. According to Karl, when Obama allegedly warned Republican leaders not to call his bluff, the GOP should have called it.
“What I don’t understand here — the big mystery to me is why the Republicans didn’t use the president’s phrase, ‘call his bluff,’” Karl said. “The president was talking about cuts to Social Security and Medicare and the Republicans pulled out on taxes. The initial reaction to the leaks on those stories were Democrats on Capitol Hill were screaming bloody murder saying they were not going to let the president and John Boehner touch Medicare and before that fight could play out, the Republicans walked away on taxes.”
Watch: