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One week from today, next Tuesday, is officially deadline day in Washington.

The final day for Republicans in Congress and President Obama to strike a deal on the debt ceiling

and avoid sending the country into a self-imposed default for the first time in our history.

At this hour last night, the prospect of reaching that sort of deal took the latest turn in a journey that's had a whole lot of turns.

A prime time address from the President aimed at, shall we say, pressuring Republicans into finally reaching some sort of agreement.

But if you were tuning in last night as I was hoping that you would see some grown-ups really close to compromise,

that's not at all what you saw.

Instead, it was President Obama and Speaker John Boehner looking like they were as far apart as they've ever been in this now months-long fight.

And today, just after their dueling prime time speeches, President Obama made it clear that he would not accept just any compromise,

when he officially threatened to veto the plan that's favored right now by John Boehner and House Republican leaders.

Late tonight, Speaker Boehner's office announced that he's going to be rewriting that plan because it doesn't achieve as much in savings as he originally claimed it did.

Now, given the sort of dire nature of where these talks stand right now,

there is still at least one remedy that's been bouncing around Washington these days, that suggests President Obama doesn't actually need John Boehner at all,

that he can just raise a debt ceiling on his own without John Boehner and without House Republicans.

For weeks now, the White House and President have said they don't intend to take this sort of dramatic unilateral action,

but this policy is one that's enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

...