"Where I disagree with Bill is that I don't think this has been some scheme of his but that he has finally come to the point where he is forced to do what has to be done...."

Well, my opinion is based on MY theory that,
1)Not bothering to combat every ongoing stupidity is hardly the same as 'not having balls'... and
2)When people are acting like the Republicans have been, their behavior soon begins to speak for itself and the rational pundits are better purveyors of sanity than 'getting down in the mud' personally.
I really believe the Republicans would have LOVED to have Obama waste his time fighting with them every step of the way so they would have more detail to criticize...instead of the constant barrage of generalities they spew instead. Only the hard-core base is fooled by birtherism, accusations of being a socialist, being soft on terrorists, 'failure' to pass legislation...(who voted against all the ideas, including their own?)....etc..
Obama can now assert, rightfully, that he TRIED bipartisan compromise on many issues and got only irrational bickering as they blocked even bills they had once supported.
Oh...and point #3...people have short memories-- if he had used all his ammo and shown his hand too soon, it would have been lost in waves of rhetoric. Now, as the Republicans are conducting debates like a circular firing squad and trying to dismantle the EPA and mess up Medicare and defund teachers and police & firefighters and Gerrymander all the voting districts, much of what Obama needed to explain is becoming quite clear to voters who weren't already committed to anything Rush & Newt said. All Obama needs to do is say, "See? I told you so!" and do stuff like he just did about the super-committee failure.

   It's hard to tell just how successful it will be, but "showing he has balls" is not his basic style, and may have been useless in the climate of the last couple years. Now...when it matters, he IS making it clear that HE is the rational one and is shaming those who created the mess.

Anyway, that's MY take.... we shall see.