• I’ve reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this.
• President Obama • Toward the end of a budget meeting with Republicans. It’s not clear what policy he won’t yield on, but from the texture of the debate thus far, we’re guessing it’s the inclusion of revenue increases in the deal to raise the debt-ceiling.source

• Mitch McConnell knows what he wants. That’s a very critical thing to remember when examining his new debt limit proposal, which would essentially transfer the power to raise the limit from the congress to President Obama. This may seem innocuous, but is a very political decision; forcing Obama to be the sole person taking an affirmative action to raise the limit, then giving congress a vote of “disapproval” that he’d likely have to veto feeds into the narrative of fiscal irresponsibility the GOP craves. The plan would also force Obama to re-up the limit three separate times before the 2012 election, which is theoretically a big political price to pay. Add in that the increase has to be paired with at least an equivalent amount of spending cuts, and what you see is less the grand compromise than what the GOP has wanted all along — spending cuts and no new revenues.

Some context to keep in mind:

• The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.
• Mitch McConnell, speaking to the National Journal back in October • Offering a key thought on his mindset. Now, to be sure, it’ll be good news if the debt limit is raised, even in an otherwise frustrating context. However, it’s good to keep this in mind the next time you think Mitch McConnell is actually working in a bipartisan fashion. We take him at his word on this. source

• Last day on the job: The path Robert Gates took as a defense secretary for successive administrations (under the control of different parties) is very unique, and as such you can understand President Obama wanting to give him this sort of an honored send-off. You can be sure that Gates feels the love. source

• To this day, I don’t think Barack Obama has any issue with two people of the same gender getting married.
• Former Obama aide Kevin Thompson • Regarding the issue of gay marriage, which he taught the then-Senate-candidate about in 2004. Obama’s current position on gay marriage is “evolving” (his words), but there’s evidence that he’s really supported it the whole time, avoiding taking an affirmative stance on the issue mostly for political reasons. Barney Frank, one of the country’s most prominent gay politicians, says that, based on his record, “he was probably inclined to think that same-sex marriage was legitimate, but as a candidate for president in 2008 that would have been an unwise thing to say.” Is it possible that he’s held out on a firm position because he knew it was a possible political landmine? You mean this didn’t seem obvious? source

• Michelle and the kids are wonderful in that if I said, ‘You know, guys, I want to do something different,’ they’d be fine. They’re not invested in daddy being president or my husband being president.
• President Barack Obama • Claiming that if he wanted to be a one-term president, his family would be totally cool with the idea. While Obama says that he has days “where I say that one term is enough,” he keeps going because of “a belief that the work that we started in 2009 is not yet complete.” A few people on the other side of the aisle would probably welcome the idea of a one-term presidency, too, brah. source

• … I feel more of an affinity for America than I do for Africa. I’m a black man in America. Barack Obama is more of an international. … he was raised in Kenya, his mother was white from Kansas and her family had an influence on him, it’s true, but his dad was Kenyan, and when he was going to school he got a lot of fellowships, scholarships… He spent most of his career as an intellectual.
• GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain • Speaking to The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, in an interview he wrote for Bloomberg View. Goldberg, to his credit, corrected Cain that President Obama spent some years of his childhood in Indonesia, not Kenya, to which Cain replied, “Yeah, Indonesia.” Whether this was a sincere mistake or not is impossible to say, and frankly doesn’t entirely matter — Cain is trying to paint Obama as mysterious and foreign, as opposed to himself, an American black man who rejects the term “African-American.” He also throws in some anti-intellectualism for good measure, but really, the story here is his stoking of, if not birtherism, the core belief that allowed that rumor to spread — he ain’t one of us. In trying to seize momentum with his recent, strident remarks, Cain’s campaign slogan could easily share a title with a classic 80s film — “Say Anything.” source

• Goodwin Liu says goodbye: One of the many contentious battles between the Republican Party and the Obama administration may come to a close, as judicial nominee Goodwin Liu has asked the President to withdraw his name from consideration. Obama nominated Liu on February 24th, 2010, and he’s languished in the Senate approvals process ever since. His nomination was a hit with the President’s liberal base, as Liu is rather liberal himself (and a UC Berkeley professor, to boot), but that made the political strategy for the GOP all too obvious. With the strength of the Senate filibuster still in hand, they decided to wait it out, hoping that Senate gridlock would scuttle his nomination. It seems that they were right. source

• Obama wants patience on Libya: In a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron. President Obama sought to erase any doubt that the NATO action against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi would let up while Gaddafi clings to power through his military. “Gaddafi and his regime need to understand that there will not be a let-up in the pressure that we are applying.” Obama refused to give a timetable for the military action, saying it would be resolved “in a timely fashion,” and stressed the need for “patience.” source

• What I said is factually true. And to hide behind the charge of racism? I have never said anything about President Obama which is racist.
• 2012 presidential candidate Newt Gingrich • Defending himself from charges of racism after he referred to Obama as the “Food Stamp President.” Gingrich claimed is was “factually true” because one in six Americans receive them. OK, Newt, we checked your numbers and you’re right — over 44 million people out of roughly 307 million received food stamps in February 2011, a record level that’s jumped by nearly 20 million since 2008. (Though we’ll add this much: The number is closer to one in seven, brah.) But the problem is tone, Newt. By calling a president a “Food Stamp President,” you make an attack that sounds less like a reasonable criticism and more like a broadside: Would you have said this about Clinton? Or Bush? Exactly. source