According to the Village, the president refuses to propose cuts to entitlements
by digby
The ultimate Villager was relieved that the president didn't use his patented combative, in your face language to insult the poor Republicans in his State of the Union:
In days leading up to the address, White House aides had been dropping broad hints to the press that a newly combative Obama would once again stick it to Republicans. Not an olive branch, reported Politico, but a cattle prod. Instead, Obama wisely chose to use tempered, constructive language in addressing the other side. That didn't change the atmosphere much in Washington -- but give the president credit. He didn't make it worse either. It would be good to hear the Republicans act in the same spirit.
Yeah, he's been "sticking it to the Republicans" for years now. But luckily he "wisely" didn't make it worse. I'm sure the Republicans will respond in kind because despite all the horrible, insulting rhetoric the President has been using against the poor little dears, they've always shown themselves to be so kind, caring and decent in their dealings with him.
Read the whole silly article. It's the political establishment in a nutshell: stuck in some funhouse mirror version of reality that sees the Great Conciliator as an equal partner in Washington gridlock. They simply cannot accept the fact that their vaunted grown-ups have morphed into a monster that refuses take yes for an answer when the President offers them all that Gergen insists must be done and instead construct some completely fictional narrative in which the president is equally obstreperous and unbending. Seriously, look at this:
The biggest disappointment: For the president, this speech was probably his last opportunity to break open the impasse over federal deficits. Only a game-changing proposal had any chance of success -- putting a bold offer on the table of significant changes in Medicare and Social Security along with a tax overhaul in exchange for the GOP dropping the sequester and accepting near-term investments in infrastructure and the like.
Apparently, the fact that he's offered these things over and over again with an eagerness bordering on obsession, doesn't count. I'm not sure what more he could do short of issuing an executive order requiring the Social Security and Medicare administrations to cut off the elderly immediately.
Not that I'm defending his addiction to offering up the social insurance programs, but it's mind boggling that the Villagers continue to portray him as being the one who refuses to deal. But when I think about it, perhaps it's a good thing. By failing to communicate that our popular president is the one who consistently offers to cut needed benefits for some of our most vulnerable citizens, perhaps the Democratic Party might just be lucky enough to hold on to a tiny bit of credibility with which to make an argument for their continued relevance to people who vote for them.
Hopeless, just hopeless ...
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