President Obama Press Conference on the Debt Limit Open Thread
President Obama will address the nation tonite at 9PM to discuss the current state of play of resolving the debt limit standoff.
I imagine that this will be on the usual network and cable venues.
NPR will be broadcasting it live (WHYY)
No idea what WDEL is doing, but they often broadcast Presidential Press Conferences
Online:
CSPAN
White House website
MSNBC — not certain if they will live stream it, but they usually do.
Any other places where you can see or hear the press conference?
The two plans are summarized by Ezra Klein — Harry Reid; John Boehner and he takes a stab at the Compromise between the two.
And while we’re here, let’s remember how we got this massive deficit in the first place — How the Deficit Got So Big:
So while you are watching this play out, remember that what we are arguing over is how to pay off the credit cards and loans taken out to pay for the Iraq War, the war in Afghanistan, Medicare Part D and multiple rounds of tax cuts. Republicans (and their teajadi familiars) supported enthusiastically every bit of this and can’t find a way to support actually paying for it.
Use this thread to provide any updates you hear of and certainly use this as a live-blog thread when the President speaks.
Grand Wizard Norquist has the GOP caucus convinced that closing tax loopholes and allowing the Bush tax cuts to lapse are “tax increases.”
The oath that the GOP has put above their oath of office needs to be discussed.
This whole thing is such a joke I can hardly stand to think about it anymore. There doesn’t need to be cuts with the debt ceiling. They can just raise the debt ceiling, as it’s been done 89 times before. The joke is that in September we’re going to start this crap all over again with the budget and if Boehner has his way, again in January.
I’m just tired of all of it, really.
Booman has weighed in with his thoughts, which agree with mine.
Maybe I’m crazy but the Reid plan sounds not terrible. I love that Reid stole Paul Ryan’s trick – counting ending the war and lower interest payments as $1.5T in deficit reduction (it is, really). $1.2T come from cuts already agreed by the Biden-led talks (it includes cuts to defense about $500B) and no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Plus, the Bush tax cuts will still expire at the end of next year. Pretty smart kabuki. Plus Reid gets to say it does everything the GOP claimed they wanted – cuts only, one debt ceiling vote AND Reid can say his debt cutting package is bigger.
And they’ll still say “no” which I think is the point Reid is really making.
Oops! I should have read Booman before commenting. Let me now say… I agree with Booman, too!
Anyone giving odds that Obama will NOT give into a short-term plan? I hope he.doesn’t, but I’m afraid he will.
Yup.
Democrats consult with President Obama, Republicans consult with Rush Limbaugh – perfect illustration of our times.
No odds. Democrats playing away a winning hand is just too ingrained in the DNA unfortunately. President Obama has the best cards (I think) here and he’s played them well so far.
I was just watching Olbermann and Kos said that Boehner first announced his plan today to Rush Limbaugh — not to the American public. True?
Oh no. We’re in a time warp again. My comment should be after Cass’s.
The rest of the GOP clown House is not good enough for Boss Limbaugh. They have to consult with Erick Erickson:
I agree with Booman too and notes sometime back that all of this was about Obama being the adult in the room. And so far he’s done that. The GOP has taken a real hit on this thing, but it is remarkable that there isn’t a bigger backlash. I blame that on Democrats who do not know how to flood the zone yet and to the horserace-crazy political media who cannot get away from the both sides do it BS. If you are going to report politics as a horserace, you can’t just start calling the race by throwing up your hands and telling everyone that all of the horses are running fast. Sheesh.
I had a conversation today with some people about how political reporters cover politics like a team sport, yet sports journalism is so much better than political coverage. Sports journalists don’t just report the score, they report the story behind the story.
I think Obama will sign the short-term extension if that’s all he can get. The consequences of default are just too high. I don’t think the short-term extension is going to go through, the teajadis are already throwing cold water on the Boehner plan (because they want default). I’ll bet Boehner has to get Democrats on board.
They also get to talk about who is right and who is wrong — who is winning and who is losing and why. And lots of sports are fairly stats driven so being functionally innumerate is a real job killer for a sports reporter. For the sake of objectivity that isn’t the OED definition, political reporters cut out all of that stuff.
If I have the vote numbers right, Boehner does need Democrats to pass anything that raises the debt ceiling. He already has 60+ teajadis who have made it plain that they will not vote for an increase under any circumstances. If that is true, then Boehner will end up with something that does not have the stepped vote plan in it, I think. For all of his bluster, Boehner can’t pass anything raising the debt ceiling with just his own caucus.
And this, via Balloon Juice, from the Atlantic:
This is titledWashington Isn’t Broken, the Republican Party Is . And should be required reading for journalists and commentators everywhere.
CNN is reporting that S&P says the Boehner plan won’t prevent a credit downgrade but the Reid plan will. The Senate Republicans have been pretty quiet.
Looks like revenue is off the table either way. The insistence on taxes seems to have served its purpose and Obama doesn’t need it anymore.
Now that Obama is no longer calling for tax increases on the rich, he is facing imminent risk of losing the title “Best Democrat In America,” which will now likely go to some intern in Wisconsin. Obama didn’t hold the title for very long anyway.
Obama’s insistence on revenue seems to have been only a counterweight to the GOP insistence on entitlement cuts. With entitlement cuts not in the Reid plan, the new revenue was dropped.
The expiration of the 2012 tax cuts could be wiped out at any time if Obama follows through with his “tax reform,” depending on how it is accomplished.
Reid’s plan does include a gratuitous “Catfood Commission Part Deux” with a guaranteed vote in the Senate. Which is kind of clever because it will force Repubs to go on record once more voting for cuts to Medicare and Social Security right before the election. One more reason they probably won’t vote for the Reid plan.
So does Boehner’s. The plan only comes to a vote if it gets a majority vote.
Yeah, the commission is a bad part of the plan. Oh well.
Obama knows that the tax cuts will expire next year. Extra revenue is already dialed in.
Yuck, the fake debt crisis BS. I hate how he’s actually bought this shit.
Still calling for “balanced approach” (revenue). This is good.
Oh wait…
Pinning the tail on the GOP. Are you watching, John Carney?
This is terrible. More begging congress to get a long. Give me a break.
Okay. Now asking America to do something. A bit better.
This is amazing. Obama is asking people to call their Congressman and demand a “balanced approach.” i.e, taxes.
I’m listening, but I don’t get what he won’t agree to.
I’m sorry, but I think he should have drawn a firm and unambiguous line in the sand. This is the.last week and he blew it.
Now we have to listen Boehner’s lies. How awful.
Were Boehner’s lips moving? yeah. He was lying. His daughters are going to be cared for by Marlboro money.
Boehner on lying his ass off. This is why “he say, she say” is so foolish. What part of the fourth estate holds this fool accountable for this faulty narrative?
But talk about a technicolor demonstration on how broken the GOP is.
I am just happy to know that Ronald Reagan is now a Democratic hero.
You wouldn’t want to offer Boehner tea. He’s herding cats, not the cute ones like icanhazcheezburger.com but the crazy misinformed dimmies.
I’m listening, but I don’t get what he won’t agree to.
It was there, but you had to read between the lines. He asked us to call our Congressman and demand a “balanced approach” (taxes). I take that to mean that he wants cover to threaten or actually veto a plan without revenue.
Now, as a progressive when Obama asks me for a favor, that is rich. My response goes something like this:
Seriously though, I’m making the call tomorrow morning.
I thought Obama did well. He explained the situation and called for action. It’s up to us to call our Congresscritters.
Boehner lied like a bad rug. Passing the House = bipartisan, really?
Did anyone hear Republican Rep Joe Walsh on MSNBC? This is the second time I’ve heard him. He’s a pig. I hope Dems especially focus on defeating him in 2012.
HuffPo reporting that the Congressional servers are crashing.
It was a pathetic speech by a pathetic leader. After months of secret meetings of trying to negotiate cuts in social security and medicare and out-deficit cut the republicans, Obama comes on the TeeVee begging for people to contact their Congress people and call for a “balanced approach” just days before the deadline.
Meanwhile, Reid is trying to manage the Democratic capitulation for Obama.
Pathetic. And nobody should forget the fact that the only reason there is a republican majority in the House is due to the massive incompetency, dishonesty, failed leadership, and squandered opportunity of this President.
Tonight he looked weak, tired, and failed.
And Paul Krugman is calling out the pundit and journalist class who (in this case) can even see the problem, but who can’t bring themselves to name the problem:
HuffPo is also reporting that the tejadis don’t want anything to do with the new Boehner framework.
Jack Markell provides his reaction to the President’s speech (from a press release):
That Krugman link is good. Thanks Cassandra.
You know, Obama asked us to call and insist on a balanced plan. One problem though – there isn’t a balanced plan on the table right now, and the Reid plan endorsed by Obama is not balanced. So I guess I also have to make a call to the White House and to Harry Reid.
I also heard the Drug Abusing Junkie Rush brag about Boehner’s call but their was another interesting part on the show.
A lady called Rush and was worried about not receiving her Social Security Check in case of default.
Rush assured her that would not be the case because he said he checked and knows that there are 2.5 Trillion dollars in bonds in the Social Security trust fund more than enough money to pay recipients should default occur.
Now I am not one to take the word of a drug abuser but if true and believe me it is because I also checked.
My question is why does the MSM allow these clowns to keep saying Social Security is in trouble???
Puck is right. Not only is there not a “balanced plan” on the table right now, apparently Obama’s “balanced plan” was one calling for cuts to SS and Medicare. So what he is actually asking for people to do is to support his nebulous super-secret “balanced plan” without explaining what it is or how deep the cuts are to entitlement programs.
If that’s what you think, don’t call in your support. Yes. It is that simple. Why I should have to explain that to you is beyond. me.
Call these numbers early and you can simply leave a quick message:
John Carney (302) 428-1902, Chris Coons (302) 573-6345, Tom Carper (302) 573-6291
I think Obama’s principle is to link entitlement cuts with tax increases as a poison pill: “Fine – you want to cut SS and Medicare? OK, but only if you vote for new taxes. I dare you to vote for that.” And Repubs were unable to call his bluff.
If Repubs take tax increases off the table, Obama is taking cuts to SS and Medicare off the table. I think that is pretty much what we are seeing now. I did not trust Obama to stick with it but it now looks like he will.
It is not a great strategy for winning tax increases, but it is a good strategy for protecting SS and Medicare while exposing Republicans as fools.
Thanks Jason. Done.
Called the Delaware delegation. Here’s what I said:
I’m calling in support of the President’s call for a balanced plan.
Work to put a balanced plan on the table.
Don’t support plans that aren’t balanced
No increases to age of eligibility.
No cuts in Medicare or SS benefits.
Support cuts to entitlement costs such as drug price negotiation or eliminate Medicare Part D.
White House switchboard opens at 9 – here’s the contact info:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Call and ask for a balanced plan to be put on the table.
There is no evidence that Obama himself doesn’t want and support cuts to SS and Medicare. Everything points to the fact that he does.
Yes. We would have to come up with the cash to redeem those bonds, and we don’t have cash.
I’m sure that was just the Oxycontin talking.
This is from TT’s post:
Rush assured her that would not be the case because he said he checked and knows that there are 2.5 Trillion dollars in bonds in the Social Security trust fund more than enough money to pay recipients should default occur.
I’m gobsmacked by this — anyone else see what is wrong with this picture?
“There is no evidence that Obama himself doesn’t want and support cuts to SS and Medicare. Everything points to the fact that he does.”
The evidence that Obama doesn’t want to cut SS and Medicare is that if he did, it would have been done by now. Half our Democrats and all our Republicans are ready to go down on Medicare and SS cuts like a ten dollar hooker. Obama really has been providing the only real spine in the party for months now.
Obama’s defense of entitlements by daring Repubs to vote for even bigger cuts, is kind of like Reagan winning the Cold War by building more nukes. It might work, but it might just as easily have gotten us all killed.
The evidence that Obama doesn’t want to cut SS and Medicare is that if he did, it would have been done by now.
That’s evidence?
Half our Democrats…are ready to go down on Medicare and SS cuts like a ten dollar hooker.
Names, please. Otherwise, that is utter nonsense. Until Obama, support for Medicare and SS were the bedrock of Democratic policies.
Obama really has been providing the only real spine in the party for months now.
If you mean spine for implementing his economic plans that puts Wall Street bonuses and corporate profits over more jobs and better wages, then you’re right. Mission accomplished.
Obama was on TV last night calling for tax increases on the rich (“balanced plan”). What other Democrat is doing that right now?
I spent last year and most of this one blasting Obama for not fighting; for not using his veto threat or bully pulpit. Now he is doing all of that. That is what I wanted.
For the public option and the tax cut extension, I felt like the deal was done in back rooms and the votes were all kabuki. The speech last night makes me believe this is totally different; it is still up in the air and Obama is fighting for as Democratic an outcome as possible. That is all I ever wanted from him.
The passage of Boehner’s debt ceiling plan in the house would trigger a credit downgrade.
So I guess A1 is sorta right. Obama has the interests of Wall Street in mind.
I think the finance sector is hungry for an excuse to raise interest rates. It’s been a while.
Weren’t those the same rating agencies who told us the investment banks were triple-A, right up until we had to bail them out?
Um, puck, have you missed the secret back-room dealings for the last 3 months? Obama was ready to sell out on SS and Medicare – and he still is.
Do you have any facts or numbers as to what the “balanced plan” is that you’re supporting? No, you don’t, because Obama hasn’t told you. And he doesn’t want you to know. Why do you think that is?
By the way, in regards to your “half our Democrats” not supporting SS and Medicare, the fact is that many are furious with Obama for giving the repubs an opening to say that Dems support cutting SS and Medicare (after the r’s already voted to do so). But that is just more evidence of Obama’s political incompetence.
Oh and I am still waiting for the names of the “half our Democrats” who don’t support SS and Medicare.
Sheesh, every time A1 posts he reminds me of someone being dumped by their boy/girlfriend. You know the type – the one who goes out of their way trying to turn every living person against the one who supposedly done them wrong. There is only blame on one side. After a few conversations with this person everyone gets why they were dumped.
puck asked Obama was on TV last night calling for tax increases on the rich (“balanced plan”). What other Democrat is doing that right now?
How about the House Progressive Caucus?
“The budget savings come from defence cuts, including immediately withdrawing from Afghanistan and Iraq, which saves $1.6 trillion over the CBO baseline from 2012-2021. The tax hikes include restoring the estate tax, ending the Bush tax cuts, and adding new tax brackets for the extremely rich, running from 45% on income over a million a year to 49% on income over a billion a year.”
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/04/debt_proposals
Some people see things as they are and say why? A1 sees the world and asks, why doesn’t everybody hate Obama as much as me?
Yes, pandora, it is all because of people like me on the left and our personality disorders. We’re what’s wrong with this country. If we could only be controlled, right?
Jason, you understand! (Wiping away a tear.)
It takes one to know one.
To his credit, Boehner has succeeded in uniting the House Dems:
There’s a real chance Boehner’s bill won’t pass. Then it will be up to the Reid bill.
Sheesh, every time A1 posts he reminds me of someone being dumped by their boy/girlfriend. You know the type – the one who goes out of their way trying to turn every living person against the one who supposedly done them wrong. There is only blame on one side. After a few conversations with this person everyone gets why they were dumped.
and every time A1 comments you can almost always count on a contributor from DL making a comment like this about him.
It’s almost like when any one attacks your BFF you need to rush and crush that persons character. Oh my, A1 doesn’t like Obama, let’s crush him for being different!
you should try this line of crap over at Salon and see how far you get. You know Salon right? where real liberals hang out
Yeah, we’ve moved on. Upgrade from dial-up or something.
I think that pandora just wants everybody to be nicey nice to each other. To borrow her analogy, when you’re best friends with a serial abuser, you sort of get tired of hearing from the person that they abused. You just want to keep on believing that the abuser just couldn’t do such a thing, and that it must be the other person’s fault.
I guess that keeps everything nicey nice.
Love, love, love that I hit a nerve! Which probably rules out my nicey-nice rep. 👿
I don’t think Obama wrote off liberals because of A1’s tone. It can be annoying, yes, but Obama wrote off liberals because he isn’t one. The only remaining meaning to liberals for “hope and change” boils down to “I hope he’ll change.”
I hope that Obama is vain enough to want a place in history. I think he is, and to get that place in history he’ll need to be remembered for being more than the first African-American President who opened up Social Security for dismemberment.
Obama wrote off so-called “liberals” because he could.
There’s no incentives there to actually change that equation. And until there is, you can expect to continue to be written off.
Contrast that, however, with how tightly yoked to the tejadis the GOP is. Those people are facing a boatload of incentives to Pay Attention to teajadis.
“Liberals” do not deliver that kind of noise or political pain. Period.
I’d like to think that Obama has heard the bitching of the purists, and has now decided the enthusiasm gap is big enough and he better stop digging and start climbing out before the election.
“Liberals” do not deliver that kind of noise or political pain. Period.
I chalk that up to battered wife syndrome. We think the beatings are our fault.
The problem with that analogy is that liberals are neither battered or wives.
As long as you act as though your political voices don’t count, they won’t. You aren’t battered, you just won’t get in the game.
Let’s take my favorite example — what progressives have run against/or are running against Tom Carper?
Right. I rest my case.
Cassandra,
That is all well and good, but my political voice doesn’t count.
and to get that place in history he’ll need to be remembered for being more than the first African-American President who opened up Social Security for dismemberment.
wrong.
The problem with that analogy is that liberals are neither battered or wives.
As long as you act as though your political voices don’t count, they won’t. You aren’t battered, you just won’t get in the game.
bwwwwwwwwwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
finger pointing at Jason
fallin
g
out
of
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bawwwwwwwahahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaa
side
sspli
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open
and I’d like to add this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aiAdL8yy1Q&feature=related
cassandra_m, Obama is a consummate and inveterate liar. He lied to get into office on the support of millions of people who, like myself, supported him with dollars, hard work, and votes.
But he was lying to us the whole time. The. Whole. Time.
The only reason that Obama has written off liberals and progressives is because we can’t deliver the millions of dollars in bribes, er, campaign contributions, that he is getting for raining billions of tax dollars on Wall Street now that he is in office. Clearly the things that are important to Main Street like jobs, decent wages,real healthcare reform, etc. are not important to him. Just look at who he hired and the results.
And until I see you running against Tom Carper, your “favorite” example is just another example of your pompous, haughty, and conceited attempts to shame anybody who disagrees with your blind Obama-worship.
Harry and Lloyd have spoken. Don’t you two have a brief case full of money to get to Aspen or something?
It looks like Cantor’s knife is headed for Boehner’s back.
I LOVE IT! Are you the Gas Man?
The funny thing is, Boehner’s colleagues won’t depose him for failing to pass a debt limit increase. They’ll depose him for trying.
Matt Yglesias makes my point re: progressives.
Bravo, indeed.
Matt also points to a thing that the right has figured out how to get — genuine deference from lawmakers.
Don’t look now Cassandra but the President is now on your left. And it wasn’t because of anything you said or did.
Cassandra, That is not an argument worth having….again. We all witnessed the events of 2099 and 2010 – and I think that the one thing we can agree on is that Democrats did a historically shitty job making their case to he electorate.
I say, “The leader of the Democratic Party was who?” And you say, “Democrats let down thier leadership.”
“Erick Erickson reports”
That is just Erickson stroking himself. I would be surprised if he got three calls.
If you want to see lawmaker responsiveness to progressives, look at this:
See, Jason has a microphone and he knows how to use it. Not all bitching on the Internet is useless.
I’m a micro phony.
It may not be an argument worth having again, but you still insist on it. So as long as you want to hide behind being victimized, I’m going to remind you that you have more cards here than you think.
puck @2:17 actually makes my point on this. You made the effort to actually call the guy out on that crazy video and you get more clarity the next time out. Not a big win, but you wouldn’t have gotten it if you hadn’t pushed in a way that John Carney would hear.
And this bullshit:
Don’t look now Cassandra but the President is now on your left. And it wasn’t because of anything you said or did.
What is true here, is that you, puck, wouldn’t know your ass from a hole in the ground. If politics is basically nothing about trying to figure out the tribal markings of the people in the room, you can look to that as to why you and yours are a total fail. Because the markings don’t mean much — what people actually *do* is the meaningful thing. Not what you’ve made up in your mind that people do. And being able to watch the ebb and flow of what anyone does isn’t exactly your forte.
Puck,
Cassandra works the phones for Democrats. She knows how politics works. If you don’t work like she does at getting your voice heard then whatever you say is worthless.
That goes for you too Jason. So both of you, STFU Cassandra has spoken. She’s been in the trenches!
So if somebody did primary Carper and the committee endorsed Carper, Cassandra might end up working against the primary opponent she is calling us out for?
Sorry Cassandra, at this point I am not really singling you out; the same would be true for any Dem party worker. It is sort of a flaw in the system.
Hey puck — remember when Carney and Markell were challenging for Governor of this state? The party committee endorsed and supported Carney.
Now you should ask me who I worked for after that.
Asshat.
Cassandra works for the establishment and will dial for whoever she is told to dial for. She is a follower, not a leader. A follower making changes from the inside out.
I’m not going there, dv. That was not exactly my point.
I was just trying to provide a counterexample to show the silliness of using the demand for a Carper primary as a universal retort.
don’t worry puck, I wasn’t asking you too. I was just giving you insight where she comes from when she delivers her standard what actions have you taken mantra
she’s DL’s resident Dionne Warwick
cassandra_m wrote: Because the markings don’t mean much — what people actually *do* is the meaningful thing. Not what you’ve made up in your mind that people do.
Let me help you with that, dear:
Because the markings don’t mean much — what Obama actually *does* is the meaningful thing. Not what you’ve made up in your mind that Obama does
You see (or maybe you’re blind), we can all see and hear and read what Obama has actually done and said. Which is why we loathe him.
You, however, worship Obama only because of his Democratic markings. If he were a republican with the exact same record, you would loathe him like any smart progressive should.
“Now you should ask me who I worked for after that.”
Good answer. No need for name calling.
Now we just need to find a millionaire Democrat who will start a youth-movement primary campaign against Carper.
PUCK there are three things you can do as a bond holder 1.) you can hold them and collect the interest. 2.) you can cash them in to the seller. 3.) or you can sell them on the open market. So as you can see that there are other options other than having the government buy them back.
Also I agree with you i do believe that the Junkie is still on the stuff.
“what people actually *do* is the meaningful thing.”
What they don’t do will be meaningful to you, too, if what they fail to do is vote for Obama in 2012.
“Now we just need to find a millionaire Democrat who will start a youth-movement primary campaign against Carper.”
You mean Beau?
Let me work on my phrasing some more…
Half our Democrats…are ready to go down on Medicare and SS cuts like a ten dollar hooker.
“Names, please.”
Well, here’s one.
Except that there was no plan put forth by Obama’s Debt Reduction Team AKA “The Cat Food Commission.”
But that is Carper for you. But I am feeling good today, so I’ll give you that one. 🙂