No Ransom!

When Major Garrett asked the president

"What Chuck and I and I think many people are curious about is this new adamant desire on your part not to negotiate when that seems to conflict with the entire history in the modern era of American presidents in the debt ceiling and your own history on the debt ceiling,"

I wish the president had been more forceful in his answer, something along the lines of: "Look, the Republicans are attempting to hold the national and world economy hostage to exact a ransom. When you talk about 'negotiate', you mean accepting that a ransom will be paid:  'negotiations' just mean dickering over the amount of the ransom. It's my belief that the United States should not pay ransom to hostage takers, but should instead demand the immediate release of the hostage - in this case, by increasing the debt ceiling.  You should not make the mistake of seeing this as a Republicans vs. Democrats issue. It's a Republicans vs the United States issue."