White House says it ‘forced Republicans to back down’ in debt fight

The White House shot back Thursday at Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) claim that Republicans had called the president’s bluff in debt-ceiling negotiations.

The administration issued a point-by-point rebuttal to Ryan’s op-ed yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, in which he characterized Republicans as having successfully stared down President Obama in the protracted fight over spending and the nation’s borrowing authority.

Maybe the most bombastic claim Ryan made was that Republican leaders called Obama’s bluff by forcing him to accept legislation that included no revenue-raisers and raised the debt limit in two stages, the second of which comes before the 2012 election.

“The president stood firm and forced Republicans to back down, preventing them from using the prospect of default as leverage again in six months by ensuring that any additional debt-limit increases will not be needed until 2013,” Stephanie Cutter, an assistant to the president and deputy senior adviser, wrote on the White House blog. 
Cutter also made mention of the reported moment when Obama abruptly ended debt talks by warning House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.): “Eric, don’t call my bluff.”

Of course, each side is trying to show its respective base that it came out on top when it comes to the debt deal, a relatively controversial product that was decried by the most liberal and most conservative members of both parties.

“We believe that this agreement was not a victory for one party, but for the American people,” Cutter wrote. “If Congress did not act and allowed the United States to default on its obligations, the results would have been catastrophic for our economy and for millions of Americans still digging out from the last recession.”