Yesterday I analyzed the substance of the President’s new budget proposal.
More important than the substance of his proposal, though, was his aggressive attack on the Ryan budget and those proposing it.
Jake Tapper captured it perfectly by comparing two quotes from President Obama.
At the House Republican retreat in January, 2010:
THE PRESIDENT: We’re not going to be able to do anything about any of these entitlements if what we do is characterize whatever proposals are put out there as, “Well, you know, that’s — the other party’s being irresponsible. The other party is trying to hurt our senior citizens. That the other party is doing X, Y, Z.”
THE PRESIDENT: One vision has been championed by Republicans in the House of Representatives and embraced by several of their party’s presidential candidates…This is a vision that says up to 50 million Americans have to lose their health insurance in order for us to reduce the deficit. And who are those 50 million Americans? Many are someone’s grandparents who wouldn’t be able afford nursing home care without Medicaid. Many are poor children. Some are middle-class families who have children with autism or Down’s syndrome. Some are kids with disabilities so severe that they require 24-hour care. These are the Americans we’d be telling to fend for themselves.
The news of yesterday’s speech was the strategic direction the President revealed through these attacks, not the substance (what little there was) of his proposal.
Continue reading Keith Hennessey…
(photo credit: Craig Miles)
