Standoff, or stalemate?

President Obama will not promise that Social Security checks will go out on August 3 unless a deficit-reduction deal is struck. "I cannot guarantee that those checks go out … There may simply not be enough money in the coffers to do it,” he told Scott Pelley of CBS News on Tuesday. “This is not just a matter of Social Security checks,” he explained. "These are veterans’ checks, these are folks on disability and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out.” Meanwhile, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said that he does not think a significant reduction deal can be reached as long as Obama is in power. He said, “After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is probably unattainable.”

The president probably has the upper hand in this matter, but both sides smell pretty bad.