Huffington Magazine Issue 32 | Page 6

POINTERS BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Enter HUFFINGTON 01.20.13 OBAMA: 1 ‘WE ARE NOT A DEADBEAT NATION’ President Obama sent a stern message to Republicans this week on the debt ceiling, reiterating that he will not negotiate over raising it. “We are not a deadbeat nation,” Obama said at the final press conference of his first term. “So there’s a very simple solution to this: Congress authorizes us to pay our bills.” Obama added that he will not give in to Republicans’ demands that he agree to spending cuts before a vote on the debt ceiling. “They will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the economy,” he said. “The full faith and credit of the United States economy is not a bargaining chip. And they better choose quickly because time is running short.”