The President of No

July 26, 2011

Unable to Produce His Own Plan, Obama Insists on a Blank Check That American Families Would Be Forced to Pay

Cementing his reputation as the “President of No,” Obama issued yet another veto threat Tuesday afternoon—this time in response to Speaker John Boehner’s proposal to increase the debt limit in exchange for meaningful and immediate spending cuts to make government live within its means.
This veto threat follows an earlier veto warning in response to House Republicans’ “cut, cap and balance” plan. By contrast, the president has yet to release any detailed plan of his own—a fact White House press secretary Jay Carney struggled to defend in Tuesday’s press briefing.
President Obama appears to be more focused on re-election politics than achieving meaningful deficit reduction.

Cementing his reputation as the “President of No,” Obama issued yet another veto threat Tuesday afternoon—this time in response to Speaker John Boehner’s proposal to increase the debt limit in exchange for meaningful and immediate spending cuts to make government live within its means:

OBAMA THREATENS TO VETO LATEST HOUSE GOP DEBT CRISIS SOLUTION:“The White House on Tuesday released a two-sentence veto threat against the House Republican plan to cut $1.2 trillion over ten years, raise the debt ceiling by $1 trillion, and set up another $1.8 trillion in cuts.

“ ‘The Administration strongly opposes House passage of the amendment in the nature of a substitute to S. 627,’ the White House said in a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP). ‘If S. 627 is presented to the President, the President’s senior advisors would recommend that he veto this bill.’” (Peter Kasperowicz, “White House Issues Terse Veto Threat Against House GOP Deficit Plan,” The Hill, 7/26/2011)

This veto threat follows an earlier veto warning in response to House Republicans’ “cut, cap and balance” plan that would restore government spending to sustainable levels. By contrast, the President has yet to release any detailed plan of his own—a fact White House press secretary Jay Carney struggled to defend in Tuesday’s press briefing:

OBAMA SAYS NO TO “CUT, CAP AND BALANCE”: “The White House announced that if the ‘Cut, Cap and Balance’ bill sponsored by House Republicans were to be passed by Congress, President Barack Obama would veto the legislation.” (Erik Hayden, “Obama Issues Veto Threat on ‘Cut, Cap and Balance,’”National Journal, 7/18/2011)

OBAMA ALSO REJECTED ANOTHER BIPARTISAN DEAL OFFERED BY CONGRESS: “Republicans in Congress charge that President Obama last night rejected a bipartisan deal offered to him by Congressional leaders of both parties which would have provided for a short-term extension of the debt limit in order to avoid a U.S. Government default. The agreement involved Speaker Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Reid and Senate GOP Leader McConnell – in fact, staffers from Reid and McConnell’s offices were working on the legislative language together on Sunday. But when Reid took the bipartisan/bicameral plan down to the White House, it was rejected by the President.” (Jamie Dupree, “President Rejected Debt Deal,” Cox Media Group, 7/25/2011)

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JAY CARNEY ON LACK OF SPECIFIC WHITE HOUSE PLAN: “YOU NEED IT WRITTEN DOWN?” NBC’s Chuck Todd: “There’s still nothing out there, why not just release the plan?” Carney: “Is it because you – you need something printed for you, you can’t write it down? There is ample detail…” (Remarks from Jay Carney, White House Press Briefing, 7/26/2011)

CNN: WHITE HOUSE KEEPS PUSHING FOR TAX INCREASES, BUT “NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT TAX INCREASES, EXCEPT BARACK OBAMA.” “After hearing the president’s speech last night, CNN’s Gloria Borger pointed out that “nobody today is talking about tax increases, except Barack Obama.” (Daniel Halper, “CNN: ‘Nobody is Talking About Tax Increases, Except Barack Obama,’” The Weekly Standard, 7/26/2011)

President Obama appears to be more focused on re-election politics than achieving meaningful deficit reduction:

THE NEW YORK TIMES’ DAVID BROOKS: CONGRESS NOW “IN THE LEAD,” OBAMA “ON THE SIDELINES”: “Obama’s Friday appearance had a gigantic unintended consequence. It brought members of Congress together. They decided to take control. The White House is now on the sidelines. Democratic and Republican Congressional leaders are negotiating directly with one another.

“The atmosphere has changed. It now seems more likely that we will get a deal. … Obama’s televised campaign speech Monday night was behind the times. The action has moved to Capitol Hill. ” (David Brooks, “Congress in the Lead,”The New York Times, 7/26/2011)

POLITICO: OBAMA’S MONDAY SPEECH STUCK TO “THEMES OF 2012 CAMPAIGN,” “CAME AT AN AWKWARD TIME”: “Beyond the I’m-still-here theme of the speech, Obama sought to strike the larger themes of his 2012 campaign … If his campaign-style rhetoric was persuasive, it came at an awkward time, during the final days when a reasonable debt ceiling compromise can still be struck.” (Carrie Budoff Brown and Glenn Thrush, “Debt Ceiling Speeches: Obama Reasserts Himself, Boehner Pushes Back,” Politico, 7/25/2011)

WHICH IS NO SURPRISE, SINCE OBAMA’S ’08 CAMPAIGN MANAGER IS SPEARHEADING DEBT CEILING STRATEGY: “David Plouffe, the President’s 2008 campaign manager and now a senior adviser, has become the behind-the-scenes voice spelling out Obama’s new debt strategy.”(David Rogers, “Debt Talk Turns To Tax Reform,” Politico, 7/7/2011)

WHILE OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN TEAM IS TAKING A “LONGER-TERM VIEW OF DEBT CEILING POLITICS”: “Operatives in Chicago are closely watching the GOP presidential field and are taking a longer-term view of debt ceiling politics.”(Christina Bellantoni, “In Politics Of The Debt, Nobody Is Winning,” Roll Call, 7/26/2011)