HAS BILL CLINTON BECOME HIS DICK MORRIS?

Brink of a Grand Bargain?: With Obama positioning himself as a budget-cutting pragmatist and GOP leadership showing flexibility, Howard Kurtz reports that a debt ceiling agreement seems more within reach than ever. (Howard Kurtz, Jul 7, 2011, Daily Beast)

[R]epublicans are suddenly sounding more positive about an elusive agreement. A GOP leadership source said House Speaker John Boehner told his caucus that the odds were “maybe 50-50” of reaching a deal within 48 hours—although the source said it would take longer than that, with the president having called another meeting for Sunday. That is a more upbeat assessment than anyone associated with the talks has voiced publicly so far.

Republicans were greatly encouraged by the administration’s willingness to consider substantial cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, the source said. At the same time, the GOP has signaled a willingness to accept Democratic proposals for certain tax increases—but only, based on the party’s mantra, if offsetting tax reductions are made at the same time.