No Conrad-Gregg Commission? Obama will create his own:

[amborin]

"Advocates of more aggressive steps to address the national debt failed Tuesday in their effort to create a bipartisan commission to press for tax increases and spending cuts, but President Obama now plans to establish a similar panel by executive order in his State of the Union address on Wednesday.

The proposal for a commission died when its supporters could not muster enough votes in the Senate to push it ahead, reflecting unwillingness among many Republicans to back any move toward tax increases and objections among Democrats to the prospect of deep spending cuts in Medicare and Medicaid. While 53 senators voted for the plan and 46 against, it needed 60 votes to be approved under Senate rules.

The alternative panel to be established by Mr. Obama will also come up with recommendations by December to reduce annual budget deficits and slow or reverse the growth of the national debt. But unlike the commission proposal killed by the Senate, Mr. Obama’s executive order could not force Congress to vote on a commission’s suggestions.

snip

The proposal, co-sponsored by Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, the chairman of the Budget Committee, and Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the committee’s senior Republican, called for an 18-member commission — eight lawmakers from each party and two administration officials — to draft a package that Congress would have to vote on in December without amending it.

One of the most vocal opponents was Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He said the bill’s sponsors had “painted a big red bull’s-eye on Social Security,” adding, “Their commission is a Social Security-cutting machine.”

snip

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/politics/27budget.html?ref=todayspaper

[DJ13]

1. Good idea

As your base is already upset due to your pandering to conservatives who will never like you anyway, propose a way to ram through every conservative's wet dream....... a reduction and/or elimination of the very entitlement programs that the Democratic party worked hard for 70 years to obtain.

Congratulations President Obama, you've officially jumped the shark.

[DFLforever]

2. I think this is more likely a nod to our

Chinese and Japanese creditors than a bone to homeland conservatives.

[DJ13]

3. Money guys

The real owners of the GOP.

[amborin]

4. yes, and to republicans....but progressives? well, you know what Rahm said! n/t

[amborin]

5. it seems Obama has long ago abandoned

Democratic ideals