There may not have been any obvious winners of the budget battle, but there were some who came off worse than others. From the looks of things, President Obama made a bad bet on his strategy of staying out of the way and swooping in at the last minute.
Republicans have been hitting Obama for his lack of leadership–especially since recent polls show he has a weakness in this area–and his absence for much of the budget battle allowed a perfect opening for pushing this narrative.
“The president isn’t leading,” Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday. “He didn’t lead on last year’s budget, and he clearly is not leading on this year’s budget.”
