The more I think about it, the more I tend to agree with Pete. Republicans need to identify the terrain that will maximize both their leverage and their ability to win the public debate against the president. If you haven’t noticed Obama’s ability to adroitly demonize his opponents to great political effect, you haven’t been paying attention. With the purported threat of catastrophic “default” — with all its implications for our already-imperiled credit rating — hanging over the debt limit debate, Obama will relentlessly accuse the GOP of threatening to crash the economy. The press will largely play along with this narrative; during yesterday’s White House press conference, many of the questions were already premised on the assumption that Republicans are the reckless actors in the dispute. Few reporters will mention Obama’s grandstanding vote against raising the debt ceiling seven years (and more than $8 trillion) ago. Fewer still will explain what does, and does not, constitute an actual credit default. Instead, Republicans will be seen as putting the full faith and credit of the United States government in graver trouble, with potentially far-reaching consequences. I also believe they’d endure all that calumny before eventually buckling — a lose-lose, as framed by Wehner. Here’s an alternative plan, inspired by the Wehner calculus…