More and more Americans are catching on to the game. President Obama’s threat to withhold Granny’s Social Security check did not send millions of Grannies into the streets, walkers banging noisily against wheelchairs, leaving the wounded lying bloodied amidst splintered walking canes.
The president, who never learned to play poker very well, seems unaware that bluffing is what the card game is all about. When he told Rep. Eric Cantor, the Republican leader in the House, “don’t call my bluff,” it was the tip-off that he was, in fact, bluffing. Careful bluffers keep it to themselves.