Obama to draw sharp contrast with GOP over deficit

[jaysunb]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Washington —

President Obama will call for shrinking the nation's long-term deficits by raising taxes on wealthier Americans and requiring them to pay more into Social Security, drawing a barbed contrast with a Republican plan to save money by deeply slashing Medicare, Medicaid and other domestic spending.

Obama will offer some spending cuts, including trims to the Pentagon's budget, but his speech Wednesday is likely to provide Americans with a vivid choice between higher taxes or fewer benefits, issues that will color the national debate straight through the 2012 election.

The debate has little middle ground and poses substantial political risk for both sides.

Democrats hope to repeat the experience of 2005, in which President George W. Bush's proposal to privatize parts of Social Security proved to be a staggering miscalculation that cost his party heavily in the next year's election. They think voters will not accept a Republican proposal put forward by Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) that would replace guaranteed Medicare benefits with a limited voucher.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/

---

I saw a thread at the top of the rec list that had Obama doing just the opposite. Seems like the media just loves to play the left. :evilfrown:

[CountAllVotes]

1. you are right - this part here ... the truth dare I suggest?

>>>shrinking the nation's long-term deficits by raising taxes on wealthier Americans and requiring them to pay more into Social Security

[ReturnoftheDjedi]

2. what you mean he's not going after the elderly???

who could have guessed?

[CountAllVotes]

3. some of the elderly may be very well off

No one if they are rich will be exempt. Period.

:dem:

[ReturnoftheDjedi]

17. I guess you got me there, he is going after the rich, old people

[pnwmom]

23. Why shouldn't rich older people be treated the same as rich younger people? n/t

[frazzled]

4. Bingo

For those eager to raise their blood pressure by foretelling deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, let it be known that what we are talking about is:

Obama would end tax breaks for households earning more than $250,000 a year, trim Pentagon spending, lift a cap on the amount of income that is assessed for Social Security, and save on Medicare and Medicaid through alterations to healthcare delivery, administration officials said.

However, I don't expect it will stop all the talk here about "slashing" these programs. Even after the speech. Go figure.

[FrenchieCat]

7. How would the professional left make their money

if it wasn't for their prediction of horrible things coming from the government?

And you know what is ironic? Folks say it is the Republicans who hate government....
when what I see is that many progressives hate it too.

[grahamhgreen]

24. By cheerleading the wanted change from plutocracy to democracy! ;-)

[_ed_]

27. Actually, all the liberals and progressives I know

distrust the power of government, and wish it constrained by the rule of law.

They don't cheer-lead for government like you, they advocate for its reform.

[davekriss]

26. If Obama achieves on your bolder paragraph...

...then he easily wins my vote, activism, and enthusiasm!

[FrenchieCat]

5. You mean, he's not going to propose death panels for the young, the poor and the elderly....

while eating a kitten during the speech?

Damn that Obama!

[jaysunb]

9. LOL !

:shrug:

[GOTV]

32. No. But if he does I know I'll be hearing a lot about how us anti-death panel types are just whiners

also, we know the gap between what Obama promises and what he signs can be pretty big.

[global1]

6. Obama Has To Go As Far Left As Ryan's Plan Goes To The Right.......

If the Repugs plan is off the wall to the right - then the Dems plan has to be off the wall to the left and probably should be even further to the left than the Repugs are to the right. It's the only way we're going to come out of this with something that we'll be able to be happy with.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HankyDubs]

10. Obama to draw sharp contrast

in order to win election; then abandons base again.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

20. That's exactly what he'll do

while not doing anything at all.

[hollowdweller]

35. That's my fear

That he will give the "Right Thing" lip service but not do anything to make it happen.

[pnorman]

11. K&R!!!!!!!!

n/t

[TomCADem]

12. Agree With Your Comment - Corporate Media Sock Puppetry

The Wall Street Journal pumps up the right by saying that Republicans are the fiscally responsible heroes forcing Democrats to confront the deficit while Politico plays up liberal dissatisfaction with President Obama as a closet conservative who secretly agrees with everything proposed by the Republicans.

Right now, the Wall Street Journal is in all out offensive attacking the President's proposed tax hikes. At this moment, the WSJ looks like a print version of Fox & Friends. Yet, simultaneously, Fox News continues to pump up the meme of "Liberal dissatisfaction with Obama," giving a stage to any prominent Democrat willing to attack him on the air from the left:

http://www.billoreilly.com/show?action=viewTVShow&showID=2826&destinationpage=/mobile/tvshow.jsp#1

###

Liberal dissatisfaction with Obama over Libya

"Talking Points is almost numb from the foolish analysis of the Libyan action - never have so many said so much useless stuff. The goal of the mission is to remove Qaddafi; why else would a coalition force be attacking him? But President Obama and all the other leaders won't say that because they're afraid to anger the Arab world. I am tired of the obnoxious verbal game being played. Inside the USA, the far left has once again turned on the President. Louis Farrakhan warned President Obama that he is being influenced by 'wicked demons,' and Ralph Nader accused the administration of 'war crimes.' There's angst on the right as well - George Will says we have intervened in a civil war 'on behalf of people we do not know or understand.' That is true, but what Mr. Will fails to appreciate is that Qaddafi is a terrorist who has ordered Americans killed and who allowed terrorist training camps on his soil for decades. Talking Points supports the coalition against Libya and, according to a new poll, 70% of Americans agree with me. To leave him in power is flat-out wrong."

The Factor was joined by Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich, a fierce critic of military action in Libya. "The President has to have Congressional approval," Kucinich said, "and he didn't ask for it. This is about the Constitution - you have to come to Congress if you attack another country. That's not a small matter and I'm not going to back off from that." Kucinich vowed to do whatever he can to stop the offensive. "There's no immediate or imminent threat to the United States, and I'll be moving forward with an amendment to cut off funds for the Libyan attack. We have to stop spending the treasure of the United States in these military adventures." The Factor reminded Kucinich that Muammar Qaddafi was responsible for the passenger jet bombing over Scotland in 1988: "You're not willing to pay the price to avenge the death of 190 Americans and to send a message to other terrorists."

[madrchsod]

13. i guess we`ll have to wait and see...

[jaysunb]

14. You're right.

I just wish all those other posters would have taken your position before biting on the false speculations presented by the msm...designed to do exactly what it did : create a fire storm on the left.

It could turn out either speculation is wrong, so I'm sticking with you on this one. :sarcasm:

[high density]

15. I think Obama has to see a firestorm from the left

And quite frankly I'm sure it must have been expected, given the vacuum of info coming from the White House. I think they were a bit surprised that Ryan got his budget out so quickly.

[Tx4obama]

16. More info from Alan Colme's website

Alan Colmes: Obama To Draw Sharp Distinction From Republicans On Budget

President Obama on Wednesday plans to announce budget plans very different than what we’re hearing from Republicans.

He will call for shrinking the nation’s long-term deficits by raising taxes on wealthier Americans and requiring them to pay more into Social Security, drawing a barbed contrast with a Republican plan to save money by deeply slashing Medicare, Medicaid and other domestic spending.

Obama will offer some spending cuts, including trims to the Pentagon’s budget, but his speech Wednesday is likely to provide Americans with a vivid choice between higher taxes or fewer benefits, issues that will color the national debate straight through the 2012 election…

Obama would end tax breaks for households earning more than $250,000 a year, trim Pentagon spending, lift a cap on the amount of income that is assessed for Social Security, and save on Medicare and Medicaid through alterations to healthcare delivery, administration officials said. He will speak about 1:30 p.m. Eastern time on the campus of George Washington University.

http://www.alan.com/2011/04/12/obama-to-draw-sharp-distinction-from-republicans-on-budget/

[grahamhgreen]

18. One can only hope and pray this will not end up like the promised public option - DOA.

[GOTV]

30. Amen. Obama often says good things. But he can't always deliver ....

... of course if he fails to appear to fight on top of failing to deliver, supporters stay home.

I think this is his last chance to appear to have a backbone for issues people care about. If he fails to deliver and still comes out and praises the GOP and tells us how great his compromise is, I think it will be tough in 2012.

[Hoyt]

19. Come on, that's not what the other threads indicate.

I sincerely hope he lays it on that straight; otherwise, we'll have to read more conspiracy threads and how Obama is going to adopt the so-called Catfood Commission's recommendations "in whole" except for those related to a public option, cutting $100 Billion from military budget, etc.

I really do hope he is quite direct on this.

[TownDrunk2]

21. Yeah, he's just going to hand over the endangered species act...republican that he is

[alp227]

22. good news, and here's the DIRECT link

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-spending-20110412,0,2255928.story

[progressoid]

25. Unfortunately we've heard the tax the rich thing before,

instead we extended their tax cuts.

[_ed_]

28. Yes,

I remember some candidate talking about never extending the Bush tax cuts. How did that work out?

[Kolesar]

33. that was contentless...eom

[Hotler]

29. Let me know whem O finds a spine. n/t

[RedCloud]

31. Hopefully he won't be drawing with RW friendly crayons.

[Juche]

34. I hope so

That link just took me to the front page of LA times, not the story. But I hope Obama pushes SS reform that includes means testing, lifting the cap, and other reforms like that.

Most of our long term deficits are health care related. And it is good Obama is trying to reform the system both with the act of 2009 and this. I hope it works out.

[FredStembottom]

36. If these policies are delivered.....

...I will be very excited about it.

Lots of us will.

We will be seeing real Democratic policies enacted - which is all so many of want. (That's all we want. No, really.)

Those of us who are disappointed with Obama will then begin liking him again.

It's all very rational.

We will unite and love Obama (and our other Dems in D.C.) in direct proportion to the amount of Real Democratic policy we see enacted (aw, heck "policy we see being fought for" will do). That's all there has ever been to it.

So.... for those who champion that self-negating brand of rudderless Obama love please know that if what is stated in the OP actually happens, we will indeed like Obama more.

The Party leaders divided us. They can put us back together

[indypaul]

37. Aren't we all tired of hearing the Republican "talking points"

that sound like "short sellers" in the equity markets?
We all need to remind them of what brought this country to the current
economic crisis. We tried to finance wars with only borrowed money.
We learned this impossibility in the War of 1812 and corrected the
problem during the Civil War with an income tax and rate fluctuations
during WW I and II and with high-end rates during the Korean and Viet Nam
actions. Such has not been the case during the three most recent actions.
Financing wars requires sacrifice in no uncertain terms. This has been
the lesson throughout history. The British learned this lesson in the
Napoleonic and Crimean wars. We have to face that fact NOW. Stop listening
to those who would sell this country short and tell this to members of
Congress as they return to their homes for Easter break. This continued
campaign of selling this nation short and playing Russian Roulette by failing
to meet our economic obligations will bring this slight movement toward
recovery to a screeching halt. That might help the Republicans elect a
President in 2012 and give them control of Congress but it for sure will not
help this nation or its occupants. This nation is NOT broke, Social Security
and Medicare will be there when Eric Cantor retires or the "full faith and
credit" of the United States will no longer exist and yes, taxation is the
cost of living in a civilized society so long as they are fair, equitable
and assessed on ability to pay. Stop the short selling NOW.