Dealing Yourself A Weak Hand

Perhaps the strangest thing about the Democrats' negotiating posture as we head into the debt ceiling issue is that this is a mess of their own making. Back during the lame duck, a lot of us thought the debt-increasing tax deal ought to include the debt ceiling issue but Democratic leaders thought this was going to be a winning issue for them come springtime:

Reid also said that he would like to push off raising the debt ceiling until next year — when Republicans control the House, but that he has not discussed the matter yet with his caucus.

"Let the Republicans have some buy-in on the debt. They're going to have a majority in the House," said Reid. "I don't think it should be when we have a heavily Democratic Senate, heavily Democratic House and a Democratic president."

Now Reid's getting what he wants. The debt ceiling will be raised, eventually. And Republicans will have more buy-in on it than they would have had if it happened in December. On the other hand, Republicans now have an opportunity to extract massive policy concessions in exchange for something they favor doing anyway.