Obama: GOP Budget Vision ‘Is Wrong for America’
- Posted on April 16, 2011 at 2:51pm by
Scott Baker
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Launching a week devoted to selling his deficit-reduction plan, President Barack Obama on Saturday drew sharp contrasts with a House Republican budget that he says offers a vision that “is wrong for America.”
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama charged Republicans with seeking to dismantle venerable safety net programs and choosing tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of students paying for college or older adults on Medicare.
“To restore fiscal responsibility, we all need to share in the sacrifice – but we don’t have to sacrifice the America we believe in,” Obama said.
The criticism echoed his speech Wednesday in which he unveiled a $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan over 12 years, a goal he says he can achieve with a blend of spending cuts, changes in major government health care programs and tax increases.
Obama’s message represents his clearest attempt to place ideological distance with Republicans after months spent negotiating a compromise six-month spending bill that trimmed more than $38 billion from the government. Obama signed that legislation Friday.
Obama plans to continue his plan’s pitch throughout the week, holding town halls in Northern Virginia Tuesday and in Palo Alto, Calif,, and Reno, Nev., later in the week during a Western tour that includes at least two Democratic Party fundraisers.
While trying to cast the debate in his own terms, the president’s attention to fiscal discipline signals a watershed in national politics. After two years devoted to priming an anemic economy with new spending and passing an overhaul of health care, Congress and the White House are beginning a debate about how to tame long-term deficits and a crushing debt of more than $14 trillion.
In the Republicans’ weekly address, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma called that turning point “a monumental shift for Washington.”
Still, Obama predicted in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday that fundamental questions about how to change giant benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaid or how to change the tax system might have to wait until after the 2012 presidential elections.
He conceded, however, that he would have to offer spending cuts to win votes in the Republican-controlled House for an increase in the debt limit. The debt will hit its ceiling of $14.3 trillion by mid-May, and administration officials say the cap must be raised by no later than early July.
And while Obama, in the interview, predicted a “smart compromise,” his address Saturday left little room for common ground with the House Republican budget. That plan, approved by the House Friday, would reduce deficits by $4 trillion over the next 10 years. It would extend Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels, repeal Obama’s health care law and overhaul of Medicare by providing future retirees a voucher-style federal payment to purchase coverage from private plans.
“It’s a vision that says that in order to reduce the deficit, we have to end Medicare as we know it and make cuts to Medicaid that would leave millions of seniors, poor children and Americans with disabilities without the care they need,” Obama said.
Obama has adopted a sharper, partisan tone since announced his re-election bid more than a week ago.
Coburn said Obama’s sharp critique of the House Republican budget amounted to “campaign-style political attacks.”
“Instead of describing the threat and bringing both sides together, the president attacked those who have a different vision of the government,” he said.
Coburn is one of a bipartisan group of six senators working to find a compromise on long-term deficit reduction. The group has not tipped its hand as its members continue to seek common ground. They have not set a timeline for achieving a compromise.
Coburn, however, praised the House Republican Medicare proposal, suggesting that the so-called Gang of Six may still have a long way to go before reaching a compromise.



















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Comments (88)
numbers
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:18pmObama’s brain is wired differently from most traditional Americans. In his open mic talk with Chicago donors he spoke of Qatar’s Emir as not doing enough for democracy. Fine, but then he adds tellingly that “…the per capita income of Qatar is $145,000 a year. That will dampen a lot of conflict.” Meaning, I suppose, that class warfare is what brings reform. That’s Obama all over.
Report Post »geonj
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:10pmfor over 2 years obama had no budget vision. now the American people have been heard and obama wants to change direction and usurp the GOP’S efforts to kregain control of an out of control economy.
Report Post »“i must find out where that crowd is going, they are my people and i must lead them” B’oboma
Eblaze44
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:06pmI want to see Obama’s written out, typed out, computered out (whatever) exact budget plan. Each area Identified and the percentage or the amount cut. I don’t want to see his mouth move, I want to see it in black and white. Then let’s talk about what is the best plan for getting us out of the fix that he has dug the well so deep in.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:02pmDear President Obama, the vision THAT IS WRONG FOR AMERICA is yours, sir. Safety Net programs aren’t going to be cut and you know that. Your constituents want more and more for doing less and less. That destroys the human spirit and eventually, US all.
Report Post »miles from nowhere
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 5:19pmObama the fraud, once a habitual liar always a liar. To much lying to be an American citizen according to the passports, foreign student loans, college info and a real birth certificate. Way to much false documents and falsified info. Something really smells rotten.
Report Post »swigs
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 8:08pmHe’s not American…..he’s Kenyan.
Report Post »cotuit
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 5:19pmSocialism is against the law in America.
Report Post »Polwatcher
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:59pmObama will ruin America. He don’t have a clue how the golden goose made us wealthy. The Repubs better not keep Washington fat at the expense of seniors. Washington already stole $2.7 Trillion from Social Security and now I suppose they want more.
Report Post »Fight for America
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:45pmIn a recent piece about California – one protester was bemoaning the fact that her 22 year old self might have to go to work to afford her courses. Well, gosh. Work. What a concept.
If it was up to the entitled folks, we’d still be living in caves – no one would ever get out of bed to do anything. They’d want it all handed to them even if they were able bodied and able minded.
There are reasons people work a lot of hours to cure diseases and work in higher postions and work their way up the ladder. They do it for the sense of accomplishment, the increase in compensation and because they want “more” out of life than expecting the Nanny state to give it to them.
Our current president seems to be bereft of the ability to understand that if you take away all the money from people who manufacture things and make jobs – there won’t be any companies. There won’t be any job. There won’t be any money to “redistribute”. So, let me see, further encourage a great America or return to the Dark Ages and the Stone Ages – which frankly aren’t working out real well in the Middle East. Those peaceful folks want to stay in the Dark and take others down with them.
No thanks.
Mr. President, please grow up or leave office. There’s a socialist or communist country out there that needs you.
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:45pmThat SKANK mother of his should have been kicked right in he stomach when she was carrying that little commie Kenyan……Oh wait…maybe she was.
Report Post »crossdraw
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:41pmEven the Beatles knew this guy,”Ostupid,” and he wasn’t even born yet. They wrote and performed,”Nowhere Man,” and how could they know. Chicago=Graft and Corruption and throw in some Sleaze where Ostupid is concerned. Everyone knows we are screwed, RIGHT? Ostupid in his empty suit WINS. What are you going to do to stop him? Answer the question if you can.
Report Post »Grandmadar
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:33pmIf it weren’t so serious, the President having a “weekly” radio and internet speech is almost comical. He really thinks people tune in and want to hear what he has to say. I doubt his followers even tune in to listen. They just want his handouts.
Like people have mentioned before, he never really lays out his plans and policies. Most of his speeches are just a long stream of cliches. I am so tired of hearing, “Let me be clear” and other phrases he is so found of using. He has worn them out and his speeches mean nothing. What really surprises me is that he is not sick of what he has to say also!
Report Post »ladyda
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:40pmI cringe at the sound of his voice…Really.
Report Post »Grandmadar
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:49pm@Ladyda: I know exactly what you mean. I usually turn off any audio or video that is played. When you watch and hear at the same time is really enough to gag a maggot. He looks mean, sounds mean, and talks like a Dictator.
If he is re-elected after another “Day of the Living Dead” Election he will be even more of an egomaniac to put it mildly.
Report Post »BubbaCoop
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:31pmSince Obama was wrong for America, Paul Ryan’s budget must be right.
Report Post »awall1231
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:29pmthen it must be good for America if barry or whatever his name is doesnt like it.
Report Post »ladyda
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:24pmO Bomb-a is not a unifying man; he is a community agitator….he is just not wired to serve as President to ALL Americans. His behavior is extremely telling….he is just a Chicago Thug Marxist. Sad, but so true. It will not be a good outcome for our Country if this man is elected another term. What a nightmare.
Report Post »streetrodder
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 5:27pmVoting in the 2012 will more important than any other election. We will have to get behind whoever it is from our side to beat the bamster.
Report Post »NHwinter
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 7:39pmCain has business smarts and West has military and international experience. That has to be the best combination for our country.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:22pmObama is wrong for America.
Progressivism is wrong for America.
Liberalism of the left is wrong for America.
Freedom, the Constitutiton, and We The People are what is BEST for the nation.
spirited
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 11:35pmSnow,
Dancer 1 is a nice touch :^)
Report Post »streetrodder
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:12pmHay Barry, share the sacrifice and get rid of the czars and take less vacations.
Report Post »ladyda
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:44pmHe is of the entitlement mentality…he feel he deserves all those vacations and White house parties.
Report Post »lynnissmart
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:05pmThis guy is so full of hot air, I‘m surprised the air isn’t lifting him into the sky…..He is not only is the worst president, he’s evil and mean and he thinks we are not smart enough to see his true color (no pun intended)! Let’s get rid of this traitor!
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:01pmHow stupid do you have to be to believe this bozo (apologies to clowns everywhere)? I guess that there are allot people out there though who desperately want some one else to pay their way. The top 1 percent have 20% of the wealth but pay 39% of the income taxes. That’s not fair. They have too much left over. What about college students? How can anyone actually expect the to pay their own way through college? That’s not fair, someone else needs to pay for it. People used to pay their own way through college by getting part time jobs but that’s just too hard.
Report Post »Hey Mr Obama, do you know what’s “wrong for America”? Expecting someone else to pay your way.
Non-sequitur
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:28pmYou don’t pay income taxes on wealth, you pay them on (guess what!) income.
Wealth and income are two different things.
Report Post »Grandmadar
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:38pm@non sequiter: He is saying that the top have 20% of the Nation’s wealth…not paying taxes on it.
Report Post »Non-sequitur
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 5:23pm“The top 1 percent have 20% of the wealth but pay 39% of the income taxes.”
Comparing wealth and income is comparing apples to oranges.
Report Post »walkwithme1966
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 5:52pmThe seniors are all going to stroke out when the Democrats begin campaigning against the Ryan bill. Say what you will about the safety net programs – they dearly love Medicare. I am glad my mother is gone because the Ryan Bill would kill her if she were still alive. http://maboulette.wordpress.com
Report Post »BetterDays
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:21pm@walk:
Report Post »I could make a career out of following you around an correcting you misinformation.
Ryans plan does not effect anyone currently on SSI. Additionally if nothing is done NOW, SSI as well as our nation goes belly up, bankrupt for you learned types. Guess what walking brain sturgeon, No one gets anything at all when it all goes poof! But that’s you plan, a whole bung of toilet paper prophets from Harvard and Liberal U. Got together and thought ” won’t the world be grand when we all live in dungheeps.”, sprocket scientists one and all. Proof positive that a college education only guarantees stupidity.
tarbush
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:21pmObama envisions a day when only members of the politburo have any wealth.
The only pleasue any of us are going to get out of his revolution will be when he ships useful idiots like Michael Moore and Joy Behar off to concentration camps after they have served their purpose.
Report Post »earthrise
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 8:56pmNON
………
You don’t pay income taxes on wealth, you pay them on (guess what!) income.
Wealth and income are two different things
………
Wealth is what you have AFTER you pay taxes on …… (wait for it)…… your INCOME. Therefore they Are the same.
I’ll give you some credit, I suspect that even you can grasp such a simple concept…..
Report Post »simplygilly
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 3:56pmIt saddens me that Obama‘s healthcare plan and deficit reduction plans won’t go into effect until AFTER his next presidential election and that progressives eat that timing up. What I want to know of my president is what he will do for the country DURING his current term, not in his next term if he gets one.
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:01pmoh he’s doing plenty…all bad
Report Post »dumboldcontractor
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:25pmHe’ll do his best to make sure the economy is destroyed, the military is decimated, the dollar is worthless, and the new national anthem is hail to the chief
Report Post »Cemoto78
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 3:53pmThe famed orator Obama never gives any specifics on ANY of his policies or agendas. All he ever does is throw something out there with no plan at all just to rile and demonize the opposition. The media just drinks it up and leaves it to the ones being demonized to prove this empty suit wrong. I still can’t understand how anyone can believe anything that comes out of the Commander of griefs mouth. He has been a proven liar on more than one occasion and still people think the leopard with changes it’s spots. I would vote for the squirrel running up the tree outside before I’d vote this guy into any office other than to vote him off the continent.
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 3:53pmwe‘ll decide what’s right or wrong with america…..you barry are fired…i wish it was that easy
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 4:10pmwrong FOR america
Report Post »Vickie Dhaene
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 3:52pmI find it very funny he is debating with himself most of the time. He has no clear candidate to run against yet.
Report Post »Mister_Bill
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 3:52pmObama will never be good for the country. All he know how to do is spen, spend,spend
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on April 17, 2011 at 2:24pmSpend, spend, spend then spin, spin, spin.
Report Post »Mister_Bill
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 3:49pmThis just another attempt by Obama to lie to the Republic. He will not be good for the country.
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:21pmHe has not been good for the public.
He is not good for the public.
He is not for the good of the public.
He will never be good for the public.
OH BO MO GO!
Report Post »J.C. McGlynn
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:36pmMr.Bill: I agree with you. Simple and to the point.
ShowTime: good observations.
Report Post »nptden
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:42pmYou think WE are stupid?…You give money to Socialist countries like Brazil and Venezuela for oil, yet restrict our oun. You give our technological secrets to Middle Eastern enemies. You allow the invasion of our country on the southern border. You give ‘stuff’ to people who are freeloaders. You even lied to the American people about your own ‘name’. You lied about being a law ‘professor’. You were involved ultimately with the ‘Housing Crisis’ by your ‘community organizing’ which passed ‘social’ laws to increase voter rolls more easily to facilitate ‘voter fraud’. You were intimately involved with ACORN which is a ‘criminal organization’. They were involved with low income people getting loans from Freddie and Fannie they could not afford to pay. This led to the Housing Crisis when another buddy of yours in Countrywide, and other crooks on Wall street created the sub-primes.
Report Post »You should be up on charges. Your vision is not very good. You should also be on charges re: your social security card. YOU ARE WHAT IS WRONG FOR AMERICA, and all your communist buddies.
Rayblue
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 3:24pmMore water to float the hooey barge.
Report Post »123gone
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 5:44pm“Fundamental questions about how to change giant benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaid or how to change the tax system might have to wait until after the 2012 presidential elections.”
This sounds too much like having to “Pass the Bill before we can find out what’s in it” !!!!!!
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:00pmWhy does anyone even wish to follow him? All he does is lie, cheat and steal across the board and he expects all of us to be so stupid as to believe the very word and ground he walks upon is as sacred and holy as anything from the heavens?
restorehope
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:17pmIf Obama was so concerned about budgets, why didn’t he pass one last year? Could it be because the country would have been warned then about how much money he was squandering?
He is playing politics by demonizing GOP efforts to rein in his reckless spending and actually make him accountable to all Americans. If he can’t take the heat, then he ought to get out of the kitchen…..soon please.
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:17pmIf he’s agin it, I’m all fer it!
Report Post »theonefromabove
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:18pmWe all know it is wrong but you need to fix it!
http://politicalbowl.com – Political Videos
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:20pmI don’t want a compromise. Let them like or lump it!
Report Post »Marylou7
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:32pmSnowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:00pm
Why does anyone even wish to follow him? All he does is lie, cheat and steal across the board and he expects all of us to be so stupid as to believe the very word and ground he walks upon is as sacred and holy as anything from the heavens?
_____________________
This is exactly why I don’t listen to anything this man has to say. How in the world can you believe someone you don’t respect. He has told so many blatant lies and done so much to harm America, the only thing I want to give him is a one way ticket out of the country.
Report Post »obama-mecca-me-sick
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 6:42pmWHO’s vision is wrong for America???? The liar in Chief is at it again.
Report Post »NHwinter
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 7:25pmI am so so tired of this man!
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 8:22pm““To restore fiscal responsibility, we all need to share in the sacrifice – but we don’t have to sacrifice the America we believe in,” Obama said.”
Actually, since government spending, regulations, and taxing are the source of the problem, it’s the public sector that must be sacrificed.
Declaration of Independence
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,
“that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
“– That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
“– That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Report Post »Gold Coin & Economic News
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 8:59pm“To restore fiscal responsibility, we all need to share in the sacrifice – but we don’t have to sacrifice the America we believe in,”
Mr Obama, you have already sacrificed the American I and millions of others believe in. You are on the road to destroying it and are in the process of ending it forever. I DO NOT believe in the America you believe in. I believe that people who start businesses and invest their fortunes in ideas made this country great and they should be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor for risking so much and working so hard.
I DO NOT believe the government should take more, more and more of my money to give to people who will not work and who want more from the government and who refuse to pay their fair share of pension and benefit plans at the expense of the American taxpayer.
The American tax payer has been sacrificing for decades and you and your cronies never seem to think we have sacrificed enough. When, Mr Obama, when will it end? When will the government be satisfied. You want us to sacrifice even more? When is government going to sacrifice? When is the government going to show some fiscal responsibility? Why should I be called to sacrifice because the government has been irresponsible with the people’s money for decades, decades, Mr Obama.
I DO NOT believe in the America you believe in Mr Obama. Your vision of America is not my vision of America and is not the founder’s vision of America and you will see that in 2012 when you feel the full force of rejection by the voters of this nation when they fully repudiate your so-called vision of America. You are a disgrace!
Report Post »Gold Coin & Economic News
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 9:08pmWhat happened to working together on ideas to make this nation great and solve our problems Mr Obama? Why did you publicly humiliate Rep Ryan in your ridiculous budget speech and then say you are willing to hear all ideas. You heard a great idea and you played partisan politics and ripped it to shreds along with its author.
You play politics with everything because that’s all you know. You were a community agitator and now you are the Agitator in Chief instead of the Commander in Chief. If you want people to work together why don’t you start by leading instead of simply tearing down.
The campaign for 2012 doesn’t start for almost another year. Why don‘t spend some time before that and at least act like you aren’t on the campaign trail and try and be a leader.
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 9:43pmI think the Marxist meant to say, “Wrong for bottom-feeding Americans!”
There is a subtle difference, you know.
Report Post »DisillusionedDaily
Posted on April 16, 2011 at 9:53pmWhile I agree with the sentiment expressed in most of these remarks, I am not as patient as you nice folks are: My feelings are best expressed in a reply I posted on another site a couple of weeks ago:
————————-
What I cannot understand is why, after two years of unconstitutional legislation and seditious activity against the best interests of the people of the United States of America, has no one yet begun impeachment proceedings against Barrack H. Obama? Is there still a reasonable doubt as to his efforts to undermine and weaken this country?
I guess my lack of a college education makes me too stupid to understand why my checkbook must be balanced while the U.S. checkbook can be continuously drawn from without ever having to post a deposit to it!
This lack of education also blocks my vision of the imminent danger to the safety of the United States being posed by an insurrection in Libya, fought by the same gentle folk that are fighting our troops in Iraq and Afganistan. I also do not understand the dire need to afford the Libyan insurgents the protection and support of the US military in one country while, at the same time, opposing them on the battlefield of another.
Finally, will someone please explain how, in the “Land of the Free”, one can be forced to buy any product or service just because some government official decided it was a good thing to do. I would also like to know when the Constitution of the United States of America was changed to allow self-serving individuals, having been appointed to a government position, to create, implement and enforce laws that affect the entire population, without those laws being subjected to congressional review and passage?
I ask again, why has no one yet begun impeachment proceedings against Barrack H. Obama?
Report Post »———————————–
I am not as patient as all of you are. I want him impeached now!
A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on April 17, 2011 at 12:07amI want to run something by the Blazers. This is just an idea.
I realize there are better candidates for President out there …
But you know who’d really piss off Obama, Soros, and the rest of the Progressives? Paul Ryan.
Paul Ryan was doing his due diligence at the Health Care Summit, and now he’s doing a good job using the game the Left is playing against them.
Report Post »