11 a.m., the mother of all distributive-justice lectures happens at the White House. He did warn Cantor not to call his bluff, that he’d take his case to the American people rather than do something crazy like agree to a deal that would solve this problem for the country but inconvenience him personally. And now a terrible thought occurs to me: What if he holds a presser every day until August? What if he resolves to take to the air every morning for the next three weeks and riff about corporate jets until the GOP caves? Second look at tax hikes?

No negotiations tomorrow. He’s giving both sides 24-36 hours to reconnoiter with their caucuses and then meet again. If there’s no opening for a deal by then, they’ll have to move to Plan B — and you know what that means.

At a “composed and polite” meeting that lasted 80 minutes, congressional negotiators and the White House finished their review of the work done by the previous group led by Vice President Biden, said the aide, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the meeting. At the end, Obama told the bipartisan leaders that he expected them to agree on a path forward “over the next 24 to 36 hours, the aide said.

No White House meeting is set for Friday, according to several aides familiar with the talks. Instead, leaders are expected to go to their rank-and-file members to discuss the negotiations…

House Republicans have set a conference meeting at the Capitol for early Friday morning; it was not immediately clear whether House Democrats had similar plans.

Here’s a clip from an interview that he did today with a local Philly station. Would a guy who refuses to sign a short-term deal that would end the debt-ceiling standoff purely because it complicates his reelection campaign really dare urge Republicans to “behave in the interest of the American people”? Oh yes, my friends. Yes indeed. In fact, the reporter presses him on the possibility of a short-term deal and O continues to insist that we can’t kick this issue down the road, even though his own party’s been kicking budgetary issues down the road literally for years now. No matter; the media is now paying attention to his hypocrisy. Expect more questions about it at tomorrow’s presser. Exit question: When he says that Congress shouldn’t be allowed to go on vacation in August if this issue is unresolved, does that mean he’s also planning on skipping his birthday fundraiser? Normally I wouldn’t think to ask but, well, you know. Click the image to watch.