Well, we’ve got one more week to go before the government of the United States defaults. The President spoke to the nation tonight and asked people to call Congress to prevent that from happening.

From the NY Times:

It was a day filled with legislative chess moves, back-to-back party caucuses and closed-door meetings that ended with a nationally televised presidential address followed by a rebuttal by the House speaker, John A. Boehner. Just a week ago the two men were in private negotiations on a “grand bargain”; their separate speeches captured that the two sides are farther apart than ever. “Because neither party is blameless for the decisions that led to this problem,” Mr. Obama said in an address to the nation Monday night, “both parties have a responsibility to solve it.”

Actually, the Republicans spent the first eight years of the last decade ballooning the debt. I don’t understand why Obama will never ever say that. Yes, Obama added to the debt with the stimulus. But, we needed to the stimulus because of the economic crisis created by Republicans. Yet, Obama assigns blame evenly. Why is that so hard to say?

And, all that blather on bipartisanship for the past two years hasn’t paid off. That was evidenced by Boehner tonight:

In response to Mr. Obama, Mr. Boehner said: “The sad truth is that the president wanted a blank check six months ago, and he wants a blank check today. That is just not going to happen.” Mr. Boehner urged the president to sign a Republican plan to raise the debt limit. “If the president signs it,” he said, “the ‘crisis’ atmosphere he has created will simply disappear. The debt limit will be raised.”

Hostage taking at its finest.

Although, this isn’t all fun and games for Boehner. He’s getting cranky. CBS News Capitol Hill Producer Jill Jackson tweeted this tonight:

Overheard Boehner saying “I didn’t sign up for going mano-a-mano with the President of the United States” leaving the Capitol.

Mano-a-mano combat. That’s what this has become. It’s only our financial future that is at stake. Boehner and his fellow GOPers already tanked our economy — and everybody’s 401ks — just three years ago. Instead of facing political banishment for that, he’s now the Speaker and Republicans control the House. Maybe they really don’t see a political downside in default.

The President’s approval rating is again at its lowest point, according to Gallup: 43 percent. But, that’s all probably part of the grand political scheme that none of the rest of us understand.