Obama dumps policy for politics

[Enrique]

http://prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=07&year=2011&base_name=obama_dumps_policy_for_politic#125772

(...)

If Obama was strictly hoping to secure the best policy, he would have jumped at accepting Mitch McConnell's proposal. It is a convoluted plan that would essentially raise the debt ceiling without any guaranteed cuts to spending. But that plan would force Obama to take ownership of the debt ceiling by raising it himself multiple times before the 2012 election. McConnell's intention is to force Obama into a negative political corner, but so what? The 2012 election is long off and a bump to the eligibility age of in Medicare would weigh equally heavy around his neck. Taking this minor risk for his reelection should have been worth defending the social safety net. But Obama did everything in his power to focus on the necessity of spending cuts during his press conference, dismissing McConnell's plan as the "least attractive option."

"The American people are paying attention to who is trying to get something done," Obama said this morning. They "don't want to hear a bunch of posturing." He'll have to hope that voters next fall don't realize the Republicans weren't the only ones selling out what's best for the country during the debt ceiling.

[Cali_Democrat]

1. What really pisses me off

Is how the GOP is successfully using this phony, ginned up "crisis" in order to get Obama to propose spending cuts.

There is no crisis. This whole thing has been manufactured by the GOP. The yield on the 10 year note is less than 3%. This is madness.

The debt ceiling has been raised numerous times in the past without issue. This is a fake crisis created by people like Grover Norquist in order to get their conservative agenda through Washington.

And Obama is falling for it.

[polichick]

3. Is he "falling for it" or is he just FOR IT?

[Cali_Democrat]

4. Good question

It's really starting to look like he's for it :(

[polichick]

15. It does look like it - and that ain't good. :/

[golfguru]

18. Good post.

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[ProSense]

5. "As Matt Yglesias put it:

...Barack Obama really and truly wants a grand bargain on the deficit."

As Nancy Pelosi put it

Pelosi Remarks Following Democratic Caucus Meeting Today

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn, Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson, Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Xavier Becerra, and Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen held a media availability this morning following a Democratic Caucus meeting in the Capitol Visitor Center. Below are the Leader’s remarks and a transcript of a brief question and answer session:

Leader Pelosi’s Remarks:

“Thank you very much, Mr. Becerra. To both of my colleagues, the Chairman and the distinguished Vice Chairman of the Caucus: Yes, teamwork pays off. It did last night for the Democrats in the baseball game and for women’s soccer team, and we are very proud of both of them.

“I’m very proud of our House Democratic Caucus. I wish that all of you could have heard the knowledge, the respect of the values that they are bringing over and over again to this discussion, most currently this morning. We stand with the President of the United States in the hope that we could have a ‘grand bargain’ that takes us well into the future with deficit reduction.

“I remind you that it was only a week ago that we were hopeful that this could happen in a bipartisan way. Thursday, we left the meeting—of last week—we left the meeting with some spirit of cooperation that we could work on a ‘grand bargain’ for great deficit reduction so that we could move on to job creation. Friday, we were working on that. Saturday, the Republicans walked away from that. And since then, we’ve been trying to find out if that’s still possible and if not, what is possible. But whatever is possible, and it’s not possible for us to reduce the deficit and create jobs on the backs of America’s working families.

“So we continue to say to the President: ‘Congratulations. We are proud of the work you are doing, and we are glad that it does not reduce benefits for Medicare and Social Security beneficiaries.’ It doesn’t mean we are not open to initiatives that will strengthen those, Medicare and Social Security, that will cut cost and keep them solvent for a longer period of time. But we are not reducing the deficit on the backs, and give tax cuts to the wealthy, on the backs of our Social Security and Medicare recipients.

“When I came to the table two days ago, I brought with me the priorities expressed to me by a large number of students who came to my office the other day. They said, ‘We know the deficit is not good for our future. We all stand ready to help reduce it, think everybody should participate in that. We hope you won’t diminish the prospects we have for college education. We want you to know how important Medicare and Medicaid are to our families. It enables them to allow us to go to college by taking some of the fear out of health care costs for them. And of course if you are young and you are in college or you are newly graduated, jobs jobs, jobs, jobs—they are important to you. So don’t do anything that impedes the economic growth.’ Their wisdom is so clear.

“But what we saw at the table was an attempt by the Republicans to increase the cost to students by over 30 billion dollars without taking one red cent of sacrifice from the wealthiest people in our country, from corporations sending jobs overseas, tax subsidies for Big Oil.

“So again, our Caucus focused on our priorities, which are based on our values. We support our President for the ‘grand bargain.’ We hope that can still happen, and we know that it will happen—whatever happens, we will not be reducing benefits to Medicare and Social Security recipients.

“With that I am pleased to yield to the leader in charge of ‘Make It In America’ in terms of job creation, our distinguished Whip, Steny Hoyer.”

<...>

[MNBrewer]

7. Here's 1 idea.

NO further extension of the Bush (and now Obama) tax cuts.

[MissDeeds]

8. Word

How can a "Dem" president justify that?

[vaberella]

11. Obama already stated that was his intentions. He said it before.

But that's on has to wait on expiration and only alleviates a bit of our problem. You should look at post # 6.

[MNBrewer]

16. something about pavement and intentions...

[ClarkUSA]

6. Yes, it's always great when alleged liberal media whores side with Mitch McConnell over Pres. Obama.

:sarcasm:

Good thing wimps like Caldwell are not POTUS. This is why:

Drugmakers led by Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Merck & Co. were targeted for Medicare cuts by President Barack Obama as lawmakers push to agree on a deficit plan. The industry predicted “startling” job losses would result.

Pharmaceutical companies “are still doing very well through the Medicare program,” Obama said today at a news conference. “Although we have made drugs more available at a cheaper price to seniors who are in Medicare through the Affordable Care Act, there’s more work to potentially be done.”

The drug industry contributed $80 billion toward the cost of last year’s health-care law, helping Democrats make up for new spending in the bill. With cuts to Medicaid and Medicare on the table as part of deficit talks, the industry may have to give up more as an Aug. 2 deadline looms.

“It’s extremely unfortunate that President Obama continues to push for a policy that could destabilize the successful Medicare Part D program and have a devastating effect on American jobs,” said Karl Uhlendorf, vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug industry’s Washington lobbying group. “Startling potential job losses could result from policy proposals that would undermine the business foundations of biopharmaceutical companies.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=711891&mesg_id=711891

[vaberella]

10. Thank you Clark.

I am so, so, so fuckin' grateful that some of the posters on DU are NOT running this nation. Because the array of band-aid schemes being sold as legitimate is ridiculous. Obama is forcing the hand of the big players who are sucking us dry---however posters here are so blind to anything Obama does, that they willing take surface information without doing searches on the deeper issue which has been talked about in the past. Shit! Even Obama said today at his presser what he was going after and cutting. This was the big guns and the big guys. But some on this site and others...ugh.

[vaberella]

9. While you want the quick fix McConnell was proposing which was lousy.

Or you're looking for something seriously beneficial in the long term for America. Obama is not about spending cuts---if they're bad for the nation. He wants on a deal on the things he proposed today in his conference...he doesn't get those with McConnell's proposal---which people were jumping for joy for but most people knew wouldn't be taken by the President.

[Enrique]

12. i thought McConnell's offer was a great victory for us

i'm confused;

[ClarkUSA]

13. It was a symbolic victory, not a substantive one, as anyone with any political savvy would know.

[bornskeptic]

14. A peculiar suggestion.

If Obama was strictly hoping to secure the best policy, he would have jumped at accepting Mitch McConnell's proposal

The whole point of McConnell's plan was to trick House Republicans into voting for a debt ceiling increase. Apparently it didn't work, which is why Reid is working with McConnell to sweeten it up with spending cuts, in hopes that that will lure the 25 or 30 Republicans they will need into going along with it. But if the President was really desirous of seeing McConnell's plan enacted, the stupidest thing he could do would be to show his support for it. That would absolutely guarantee that the brain-dead Republicans in the House would reject it. The best chance of getting it through the House is convince them that the President opposes it.

[Hippo_Tron]

17. What makes you think House Republicans would support the McConnell plan

Let alone McConnell and the Senate Republicans. These assholes pull bait and switch nonsense all of the time.