Thomas Sowell uses the often repeated football routine from Peanuts to explain the Democrats strategy on the debt.  He casts the Democrats as Lucy and the Republicans as the sucker Charlie Brown.

There is a similar routine that has been repeated many times in
Washington, over the years, with the Democrats playing Lucy and
Republicans playing Charlie Brown.

It goes like this: Democrats
start spending money wildly, handing out goodies to a wide range of
people who they want to vote for them, while Republicans complain about
deficits and the national debt. Then, when the public becomes alarmed
about the debts that are piling up, the Democrats get the Republicans
to vote for higher taxes to deal with the debt crisis, in the name of
“fiscal responsibility.”

Sometimes the deal is sweetened by the
Democrats promising to make spending cuts if the Republicans vote for
higher taxes, so that there can be one of those “bipartisan” solutions
so beloved by the media. But, after the Republicans vote for the tax
increases, and come running up to find the spending cuts, the Democrats
snatch away the spending cuts and the Republicans fall right on their
backsides, just like Charlie Brown.