http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/07/25/address-president-nationMaybe I am wrong, but to me it seems as if the President hasn't put together a plan at all , nor is he actually attempting to achieve balance. There isn't an Obama budget or doctrine , the tax increases he is asking for are not measured or scaled on any particular need.
I have gotten the impression that the tax increases asked for by the President are out of scale with the rest of the plan proposed by the House of Representatives not having anything to do with any need for tax at all.
I think that these taxes are a fig leaf for the president something he can point to positively as his own even if they are not really usefull or aimed at anything. There is just too much loss of face to the president for him to accept the budget proposals of the Republicans without winning some "balance" in concessions pulling back the other way.
I am impressed that the dates being disagreed on have more to do with the election than the budget.That the amounts of taxes being discussed are not compared with the scale of need nor the loss to the hiring power of the American Economy.
Does someone understand this better? Tell me please , other than political posturing and electioneering and demagoguery, What is the President trying to accomplish?
The only reason this balanced approach isn’t on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of Republicans in Congress are insisting on a different approach -- a cuts-only approach -– an approach that doesn’t ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all. And because nothing is asked of those at the top of the income scale, such an approach would close the deficit only with more severe cuts to programs we all care about –- cuts that place a greater burden on working families.
President Barack Obama July 25, 2011
Really Mr. President? All of the hold up is so personal?
This single thing he needs to have is a tax that wouldn't increase revenue a full 1%?
Frankly I think we should give it to him, just as he is asking for it, then in a big reveal show the public a bar chart that shows how tiny his demand is in contrast to the rest of the question, the President is willing to hold up the whole show for a measure meant strictly as a symbol ,a talking point in service of electioneering.