Obama says he's met the GOP halfway on the budget and he's prepared to move further to the right

[Cali_Democrat]

I'm sorry, but Obama has terrible negotiating skills.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/03/weekly-remarks-obama-likes-tax-cuts-now-diane-black-spending-cuts.html?cid=6a00d8341c630a53ef014e8689b94c970d

Weekly remarks from Barack Obama:

<snip>
We need to come together, Democrats and Republicans, around a long-term budget that sacrifices wasteful spending without sacrificing the job-creating investments in our future. My administration has already put forward specific cuts that meet congressional Republicans halfway. And I’m prepared to do more. But we’ll only finish the job together – by sitting at the same table, working out our differences, and finding common ground.

Negotiating does not mean giving the rethugs everything they want. Does he realize that real human beings are going to be impacted by these cuts? They aren't just some pieces on a chessboard.

The GOP is firmly in control of the budget debate and Obama is giving them everything they want.

[Blue Owl]

1. WTF

:wtf:

[emulatorloo]

2. Total Bullshit Deliberate Misinterpretation

The message is Republicans are disingenous and not willing to compromise.

[mike_c]

18. that's what DEMOCRATS need a bit more of....

At some point "willingness to compromise" becomes an utter lack of guiding principles.

[Control-Z]

40. Exactly the way I talk to my

teenagers when they're being stubborn and unreasonable. And trust me, there's never a question about who is calling the shots. Frankly, I'm tired of misinterpretations, deliberate or not.

[PDJane]

3. If he moves to the right,

the man's a fool. That's not what the country needs, and not what is going to win him kudos, whether he's looking to the next election or he's looking at his legacy.

[FiveGoodMen]

16. If he moves any further to the right, he'll fall off the edge.

But I see that the denialists are unrec'ing as fast as they can.

[LinkUP]

4. Cant people just start saying it now?

If that guys a democrat, what does that make Anyone on DU?

[Tansy_Gold]

23. Well, regardless what Obama is,

I'm a lower case socialist.

Don't know about the rest of you.




TG, TT

[eilen]

26. Who the hell knows what he is.

Right of Nixon, Right of Reagan, Left of Bush?

[FiveGoodMen]

31. Left of Bush...are you sure?

I'm not.

[eilen]

39. It's definitely a head-scratcher...nt

[Rex]

5. That is a lie, he did exactly what they wanted him to do.

There was no halfway point, just whatever the GOP wanted and then later a medal for Poppy...a great love for Ronny and a great hug for educationalist leader Jeb Bush. :eyes:

[Angry Dragon]

6. It seems it is more important to him to get something passed

than to do the right thing

[OhioChick]

7. What's with this constant moving to the "right" shit?

:wtf:

[BOHICA12]

8. 30 Billion in cuts .... that's a lot!

[RKP5637]

9. It's the wrong time in history for Obama, wrong political environment. n/t

[ProSense]

10. Obama and Democrats are

better at negotiating than Laura Bush's former press secretary claims.

HOW SENATE DEMS INTEND TO MEET THE GOP 'HALFWAY'

Sounds good to me. In the public debate, it seems Democrats have no room to strategize.

[tabasco]

11. Your reading comprehension can't be that bad

which makes me wonder what your malfunction is.

[Vinca]

12. Wow - knock me over with a feather.

[sufrommich]

13. Where does he say he's "prepared to move

further to the right"?

[leftstreet]

15. "prepared to do more"

:shrug:

[Poboy]

14. Pathetic, just pathetic.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mmonk]

19. In reading both the address and the Republican remarks (rebuttal),

it's hard to see more Republican dogma in just one place.

[jillan]

Anyone know how to get this man a spine?

[datasuspect]

34. maybe he should read up on malcolm x or something

he acts more and more like the manager of jiffy lube than a goddamned president.

[arcane1]

20. Halfway is already too much.

Please please please don't "do more!"

[yurbud]

21. as someone said about the healthcare debate, he could have used his grassroots organizing skills to

pressure right wing Dems and even the GOP to move to the left or at least not pull the center so far right.

Instead, he pre-surrenders to avoid the fight.

I just don't get it.

The only way he is a lefty is if he thinks by caving into the right, their ideas will implode that much sooner, but then those who collaborated with Nazis, the Khmer Rouge, and any other extremists could say the same thing in their defense: I was just giving them enough rope to hang themselves, I swear to god!

[county worker]

22. Obama, "I'm playing nice and I want you to play nice to, OK?

Repubs, "Boy this guy is a push over!"


What the hell universe does Obama live in?

[mmonk]

24. Some snippets for those that won't read it:

What’s also helping to fuel this economic growth are the tax cuts that Democrats and Republicans came together to pass in December and I signed into law – tax cuts that are already making Americans’ paychecks bigger and allowing businesses to write off their investments, freeing more money for job creation.

-snip-

The budget I sent to Congress makes these investments, but it also includes a 5-year spending freeze, and it will reduce our deficits by $1 trillion over the next decade. In fact, the cuts I’ve proposed would bring annual domestic spending to its lowest share of the economy under any president in more than 50 years.

-snip-

We need to come together, Democrats and Republicans, around a long-term budget that sacrifices wasteful spending without sacrificing the job-creating investments in our future. My administration has already put forward specific cuts that meet congressional Republicans halfway. And I’m prepared to do more. But we’ll only finish the job together – by sitting at the same table, working out our differences, and finding common ground. That’s why I’ve asked Vice President Biden and members of my Administration to meet with leaders of Congress going forward.


Some of the Republican response:

Job creation has to be the number-one priority for both parties. The policies of the past haven’t worked, and despite some signs of life in our economy, the unemployment rate is still far above the levels that the president’s advisors promised when the ‘stimulus’ spending bill was signed into law.

What we need is a new approach – a path to prosperity that gets government out of the way by cutting unnecessary spending and removing barriers to job growth. We need to unleash our nation’s economy instead of burying it under a mountain of regulation, taxation and debt.

-snip-

Again, we weren’t sent here to sit on our hands. The American people want us to keep the government running while cutting its cost. So with your support, Republicans spearheaded the passage of a short-term measure that cuts spending by $4 billion.

That’s $4 billion of YOUR money that would otherwise have gone to earmarks and other wasteful programs. It’s a start, but it’s not nearly enough. By enacting this bill, we’ve provided another two weeks for our Democrat colleagues in the Senate to either pass H.R. 1, or to pass a credible alternative that meets the people’s priorities. Doing nothing is not an option.

[eridani]

37. "Tax cuts that are already making Americans’ paychecks bigger"

--by a chickenshit trivial amount that is utterly useless in job creation. If tac cuts create jobs, then whythefuck did the Bush tax cuts get us 10 years of ZERO NET JOB GROWTH?

[mmonk]

38. They don't. Demand determines that. Many of our biggest firms

though have hired overseas. Their operations are worldwide. But it is part of the ideology.

[QC]

25. "I'm going to offer you twenty bucks for that chair, but I'm actually willing to pay a hundred."

Won't someone please take this man to the flea market so he can see how negotiation is done.

[Marr]

27. Interpretation: 'I'm willing to cut Medicaid/Medicare/Social Security, but you guys have to own it'.

I believe Obama is setting up his usual political cover on so-called entitlement reform with comments like this. He wants the Republicans to "make him do it".

[tallahasseedem]

28. Ugh.

I am getting very frustrated with our President.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Starry Messenger]

30. This isn't a negotiation.

This is the plan.

[FiveGoodMen]

32. Yup.

[QC]

35. Good Cop/Bad Cop.

That's the only possible explanation, because no one so intelligent could possibly be such a clueless negotiator.

[Starry Messenger]

36. Which one is the good cop?

:D I think we're on the same austerity trajectory as the PIIGS. Leaders of those countries, no matter what their stated party, are slashing social programs to the bone. The rich are running out of finance bubbles: the one for education is probably going to take a little too long. Who else has any money? Us. They are going to turn us over and shake us for loose change.

[datasuspect]

33. i think he must really hate himself

to be such a people pleaser.