Thursday, July 21, 2011

Good Press Conference on Friday

President Finally is Hitting All the Right Notes

by Maxwell Johnson

I thought that the President did a good job on the press conference regarding the debt limit on Friday July 15, 2011. I thought that he finally hit all the issues and the hypocrisy of the other side. He seems to be stressing the issues that brought us to this point, and a history of the votes on raising the debt ceiling in the past. Stressed that the rich are going to have to pay a little more. President Obama talked about the proposal that he put forward.

"The least I can do is to say that people who are making a million dollars or more have to do something as well. And that’s the kind of tradeoff, that’s the kind of balanced approach and shared sacrifice that I think most Americans agree needs to happen," said Obama.

Obama criticized the House resolution that does not close tax loopholes, "But if you’re trying to get to $2.4 trillion without any revenue, then you are effectively gutting a whole bunch of domestic spending that is going to be too burdensome and is not going to be something that I would support. "

"So I have not seen a credible plan -- having gone through the numbers -- that would allow you to get to $2.4 trillion without really hurting ordinary folks."

"Chuck, you have 80 percent of the American people who support a balanced approach. Eighty percent of the American people support an approach that includes revenues and includes cuts. So the notion that somehow the American people aren’t sold is not the problem. The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically into various positions because they boxed themselves in with previous statements," said Obama.

"We don’t need more studies. We don’t need a balanced budget amendment. We simply need to make these tough choices and be willing to take on our bases."
These are all good points. The one missing point that the President was unwilling to further muddy the waters, and that was the debt was caused by the Congress. They decided not to pay for two wars. They decided to not fund a prescription drug benefit and the "No Child Left Behind" bill. Most of the current Congressional leadership were on a drunken spending spree for the last 10 years, and now they have found religion. They have to violate their Grover Norquist doctrine or bankrupt the Medicaid, space program, education department, and Department of Interior.

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