Lift the debt ceiling, permanently

Republicans scoffed when President Obama demanded the power to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally in his first formal "fiscal cliff" offer to the GOP. And at first, I thought he was just staking out an extreme position for negotiating purposes. But Obama said again in the days that followed that he wasn't kidding: He wants the debt ceiling lifted unconditionally.

By Jon Healey

December 8, 2012