… One day after Republicans rolled out a detailed proposal aimed at eliminating the federal deficit through steep cuts and repealing many of the president’s accomplishments, Mr. Obama told them pointedly in a rare visit that their highest fiscal priority was not his.
“Our biggest problems in the next 10 years are not deficits,” the president said, according to accounts from the meeting, bluntly rejecting an idea that has become Republican fiscal dogma…
The hourlong discussion at the Capitol, and the release of a new budget by Senate Democrats on Wednesday that adds $100 billion in new stimulus spending and would impose higher taxes on large corporations and wealthy Americans, illustrated anew just how difficult it will be to resolve the issues that have split the Congress for years and created a perpetual cycle of deadline-driven short-term fiscal policy. Given the gap in the budget approaches, the president conceded as much in an interview with ABC News that ran on Wednesday before he went to the Capitol for the second consecutive day.
“Ultimately, it may be that the differences are just too wide,” said Mr. Obama, who will meet Thursday with Senate Republicans and House Democrats. “It may be that ideologically, if their position is, ‘We can’t do any revenue,’ or, ‘We can only do revenue if we gut Medicare or gut Social Security or gut Medicaid,’ if that’s the position, then we’re probably not going to be able to get a deal.” ….
Per Dave Weigel, from whom I swiped the embed at the top:
Disgruntled Republicans Livetweet Obama’s Closed-Door Speech
The typical way to report on a House Republican conference meeting is to wait until the off-the-record affair is over and prod members for details. That was less useful today. Members, reacting to the president’s offer of a Q&A, livetweeted the whole thing. It started as they walked in….
They really are a bunch of spoilt, angry teenagers, aren’t they? President Mean Dad keeps insisting the family’s summer vacation will be a week at a rented timeshare at the lake, because that’s “affordable”, when there are, like, tens of thousands of dollars in that 401K thing that could totally pay for a real trip to Cancun or somewhere kewl! Well, maybe the GOPTeens can’t force Mom & Dad to take everyone on a reality-tv- style trip, but they can most definitely bitch, whine, complain, snark and make sure that nobody enjoys their stupid condo at the boring lake!…
Oh, and of course they’ll still have their hands out at the lakeshore arcade, per Time:
“Even in this new age of austerity, sequestration and budget cutting rhetoric, powerful members of Congress are having their way, defending favorite programs and finding money for pet projects…”
Open Thread: The GOP As A Bunch of Pouting TeenagersPost + Comments (102)