I Will Talk About Anything

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President Barack Obama is ready to talk even on Republicans' terms, he insisted Tuesday, so long as Congress acts first to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling -- even for a short period.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial]
At a news conference, Obama indicated Republicans could essentially set the agenda for budget negotiations, but only if Congress agrees first to a short-term spending plan to fund the government and to raise the federal borrowing limit to avoid a possible first-ever U.S. default next week.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial]
"I will talk about anything," the president said.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial]
House Speaker John Boehner, speaking Tuesday afternoon after what he called a "pleasant" but ineffectual phone call with Obama, promptly rejected the president's comments as nothing new.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial]
"What the president said today was if there's unconditional surrender by Republicans, he'll sit down and talk to us," Boehner said. "That's not the way our government works."[/font][/color]

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[color=#000000][font=arial]At the same time, Boehner said he's "hopeful" top Republicans and Democrats could soon begin a "conversation."[/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial]There's going to be a negotiation here," the Ohio Republican said. "We can't raise the debt ceiling without doing something about what's driving it to borrow more money and live beyond our means."[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial]
Yet while Boehner didn't indicate any points of agreement, a senior House Republican told CNN's Dana Bash that GOP members may be willing to go for a short-term debt ceiling hike -- lasting four to six weeks -- as long as the president agrees negotiations will occur during that time.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial]
Still, it's no guarantee such a measure would be supported by a majority of Republicans: something that Boehner has traditionally required before calling any vote in the House.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial]
A second GOP source says the White House drawing a line in the sand not to negotiate has further complicated matters. Republican leaders have talked, though, to CEOs who called them at the request of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial]
And if there's no breakthrough? The partial government shutdown -- which began October 1, after the GOP-led House tied its funding measures to dismantling or defunding Obama's signature health care reform rather -- continues. Plus, another crisis looms October 17, when the Treasury Department says the U.S. government must raise the amount of money it can borrow or else be unable to pay its bills.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial]
All the partisan bickering -- and lack of progress -- is taking its toll not just on furloughed workers, shuttered government facilities and programs, but also Americans confidence in their government.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial]
Looking directly in the camera, Obama acknowledged frustrations with what's going in Washington -- in terms of the current impasse and all the other budgetary battles preceding it.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial]
"We've got to stop repeating this pattern," the president said. "I apologize you have to go through this stuff every three months, it seems like. And Lord knows, I'm tired of it. But at some point we've got to break these habits."[/font][/color]

[ManOnFire]