Well, why isn't it?
The Republicans haven't been doing this right at all. They continue to act like earnest young men who believe if they keep acting, keep trying, keep changing, keep talking, they'll somehow convince the upper chamber to move.
Instead all they've proven is that they don't mean business.
They pass a budget which gets tabled in the Senate, A BUDGET WHICH ISN'T BALANCED, and assumes a revenue shortfall of $1 trillion in fiscal 2012.
Then they suddenly feel compelled to pass a debt-ceiling measure to cut spending, which gets tabled in the Senate. The time to cut spending and balance the budget was in the budget phase, not the debt-ceiling phase. Had they passed a balanced budget, they could have legitimately claimed to have no need even to address the debt-ceiling issue.
Now they're going to pass an alternative to the debt-ceiling measure, which is going to get tabled in the Senate, after which the Senate will finally pass something of its own.
The House should declare it dead on arrival, pass a simple debt-ceiling increase of, say, $1 trillion in response, adjourn and call it a day.
Let the Senate table that. Or Obama veto it. Either way, the LACK OF SERIOUSNESS of the Dems and this regime would finally be exposed.
That's how you play chicken, and win.
