What are your thoughts on it? It may be an obvious reelection ploy, but it's a good one at that. If Congress doesn't pass it they're gonna look like even bigger chumps.
Plus Obama was too partisan and confrontational with Congress if he wants them to grab hold of the tar-baby (as in something that they'll be stuck with if they touch it) he's trying to hand them
The real killer in the deal is that Obama claims it won't affect the national debt and contains the means to pay for all the additional costs. But that's based on the premise of future payments and assumes that the president and congress that follows those now in office will be more willing to pay the costs run up by their predecessors than those in office now are willing to pay the debts passed along to them by those who preceded them. Obama has no control over whether or not the new debt will ever be repaid.
He's the one facing reelection problems with a high unemployment rate, not Congress and it's staffs. All of us citizens--100%--are affected by the growing national debt, compared with an unemployment rate of 9.1% Which way do you think the vote will go in 2012 on that percentile?