Yesterday during an interview with CBS News, President Obama turned up the heat on the debt ceiling debate with these comments to Scott Pelley:

Pelley:  Can you tell the folks at home that no matter what happens, the Social Security checks are gonna go out on August the third? There are about $20 billion worth of Social Security checks that have to go out the day after the government is supposedly gonna go into default?

Mr. Obama:  Well, this is not just a matter of Social Security checks. These are veterans’ checks, these are folks on disability, and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out each month.

Pelley:  Can you guarantee, as president, those checks will go out on August the third?

Mr. Obama:  I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.

Maybe the lines at Walmart and the local grocery store won’t be so long that week…

News alerts went out as soon as CBS released the video of the interview.  Now more people will take notice.  It’s on…and sides will be taken and although the polls say (see below) that Americans don’t want to raise the debt ceiling, this debate may be the GOP’s to lose – because Obama just can’t guarantee that those checks will go out on August 3.  Obama is telling senior citizens, the disabled, and veterans that he really really wants to send them their checks – because they earned them, but the Republicans won’t let him.

It’s still a political game for Obama and he single-handedly won Tuesday’s battle – and he may have won the war.  Frightening old people and the disabled is a time-tested political game used by both sides to win elections and sway public opinion.

Our country is really the loser in this whole mess.

Americans say don’t raise the debt ceiling.  A recent Gallup poll told us,

Despite agreement among leaders of both sides of the political aisle in Washington that raising the U.S. debt ceiling is necessary, more Americans want their member of Congress to vote against such a bill than for it, 42% vs. 22%, while one-third are unsure.

Also in the poll we find that the Independent voters (the voters who win elections) “tilt heavily against raising the debt ceiling, 46% to 18%, although 36% have no opinion.”

After the “your checks aren’t coming on August 3” comments make their way around the country, we’ll see how the polls change.  We’ll see if the American people are ready to stand their ground and get this mess under control or if they want to continue down the same road.