Obama's Upcoming Deficit Speech Leaves Dems "Scrambling"

[n2doc]

— By Suzy Khimm| Mon Apr. 11, 2011 12:20 PM PDT

When the White House announced on the Sunday talk shows that President Obama would be giving a major speech on the deficit—responding to Rep. Paul Ryan's drastic 2012 budget proposal—it came as news to more than just the viewership of Meet the Press. House Democrats were taken aback by the announcement that Obama would be making a big move to address the deficit this week, according to a House Democratic aide.

Many Congressional Democrats found out about Obama's surprise speech by watching the Sunday shows, as top Obama aide David Plouffe made the rounds to note that the president would lay out a plan for long-term deficit reduction this week. "Plouffe's announcement yesterday morning did leave us scrambling, that's something we're working on right now," the House aide said on Monday.

House Democrats had already been preparing to release their own 2012 budget, under the leadership of Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the budget committee. The House Dems' budget plan had been in the works for weeks, as Van Hollen had been meeting with every major caucus in his party to craft an alternative to the Republicans' plan. Last week, the GOP's decision to push out Ryan's plan to radically alter Medicare and Medicaid in the middle of the 2011 budget fight threw Democrats for a loop. Now the news of Obama's speech has left Dems on Capitol Hill grappling with another unexpected turn of events that could force them to change their plans, as they won't want to be too out of sync with whatever Obama proposes.

more

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/04/obama-deficit-speech-surprise-house-democrats

[Tom Rinaldo]

1. And some say the President has no hand in the crafting of legislation

No official hand maybe.

[bullwinkle428]

2. The continuing communication failures between the WH and Congress

are just mind-bogglingly frustrating.

[_ed_]

3. Is anyone in charge of the Democratic Party?

If this is true, Democrats are stunningly unprepared for this fight. It's days away, and the Rs have been sharpening their knives for thirty years. Our guys just woke up, and the Congress and Pres have no fucking idea who is doing what.

[nashville_brook]

4. sounds like the WH has no intention of playing with the party

[Doctor_J]

5. He's playing with the party alright

just not the Dem party.

[Cameron27]

8. And sending the message

through a political operative like Plouffe, instead of someone on his economic team is an insult IMO. I didn't like it when Bush unleashed Rove, and I don't like it now.

[nashville_brook]

9. that is a VERY good point

[NYC_SKP]

6. "...thrown for a loop", "left scrambling", "out of sync",...

A bit much, IMO. Over-stated, and an observation that could have been levied at the other side many times but wouldn't be.

Colorful language.

:eyes:

[LaurenG]

7. How is that keeping the team in the loop?

I'm glad he wants to address this but it would have been nice to get everyone on the same page before it was announced. I'd be upset if my boss did that to me.