White House Debt Summit Tomorrow — Will Obama Cave Or Pave?
Tomorrow morning President Obama hosts some friends and enemies at his big white house. They’ll powwow about bills for this and bills for that. Who’ll pay them? Will we pay them at all? Can we even afford a weekend summer vacation in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River? The big question, though, suggested by an unsettling report by WaPo tonight, is whether President Obama is ready to sell the ranch, lock, stock, and barrel . . . Please slap “Read More” for just a bit more on this . . .
Cave Or Pave? The Washington Post reported tonight that
President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue. . .
As part of his pitch, Obama is proposing significant reductions in Medicare spending and for the first time is offering to tackle the rising cost of Social Security, according to people in both parties with knowledge of the proposal.
My fondest hope is that he doesn’t really want to put much of Medicare or Social Security on the table, if anything at all. I can’t believe – I must not believe – he’d cave again as he did last December. Or will he pave the way to GOP humiliation?
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| The Bully Pulpit |
My gentler angels suggest that the Medicare/Social Security talk’s a political gambit designed to highlight the GOP anti-tax jihad, and to further isolate them as the stumbling block to a budget (and debt ceiling) agreement. The President may be betting all-in that he can win on his home field when he meets congressional leaders at the White House tomorrow.
There, afterwards, he can roll out the bully pulpit and go directly to the American people. Tomorrow, if the GOP resists even the slightest amount of tax revenue increases, he can herald it to a nation where many cannot understand why the wealthiest among them should not pay a fair share.
GOP stickiness on taxes is well-known, of course. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), for example, agreed to discuss the elimination of tax breaks like the one for corporate jets, yet – remarkably – he refused to do so if an eliminated tax break resulted in any increase whatever to federal revenues. Here’s how much he’s willing to budge on increasing tax revenue:
“If the president wants to talk loopholes, we’ll be glad to talk loopholes . . . we’re not for any proposal that increases taxes, and any type of discussion should be coupled with offsetting tax cuts somewhere else.”
How generous of him. In any event, even that “concession” – worthless as it is – was kiboshed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch “We look a lot like Greece already” McConnell (R-KY).
The hypocrisy stuns, as always. Remember – as a commenter at Political Animal did:
John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor, John Kyle, etc.
all voted for multiple debt limit increases and multiple budgets that included deficit spending (before we had a Democrat in the White House).
If Mitch thinks we are like Greece, then he can look in a mirror and see the reason.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall . . .
