Reporter's Note: The struggle to deal with the debt crisis continues, like a standoff at a bank robbery. Let’s hope it ends better.

Dear Mr. President,

I’m sure that many in your circle are asking themselves this weekend, “What do you do with people who just won’t play the game; who, if they can’t win, will go into the middle of the court, sit down and refuse to let anyone else play?” After all, isn’t that effectively what some of the tea partiers did over in the House of Representatives? It seems as if they managed to hog-tie pretty much the entire DC crew.

It’s not my place to blame them. They were elected, as you were, by people who wanted Washington to change, and, by golly, they are trying to make it happen. The fact that the changes they have in mind run sharply counter to what others want, or to what some people feel are the best interests of the nation, does not seem to be their concern.

Still, as a matter of pure tactics, I’ve been trying to figure out what strategy might be used to keep them from hijacking the process.
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