COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama has finally decided the federal budget needs to be cut. That's what he told the two co-chairs of the congressional super committee charged with finding $1.2 trillion in cuts over the next decade before Thanksgiving.
It's refreshing to know the president has finally decided there is something in the budget that can be cut. He told the committee co-chairs, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Jeb Hensarlng, R-Texas, that any effort to sideline some of the automatic cuts would be opposed by the White House. Reuters said the conversation took place aboard Air Force One just before Obama left to attend an economic summit in Hawaii.
To be fair, Obama has sent a couple of proposals for the committee to consider. Both contained tax increases for certain segments of the population, despite Republicans near-continuous vocal opposition to any tax increases while the economy is struggling to rebound. Those suggestions, along with the jobs bill the Obama also wants passed are proof that he has not been serious about signing any bill that actually lowers federal spending.
If Obama wanted to see the super committee find common ground very quickly, he already would have offered to help, rather than tell the New York Times that is was a congressional matter. He would have proposed a range of issues that Democrats and Republicans do agree would be helpful. Those proposals have not been forthcoming from a White House totally geared to finding some economic success for the president before voters go to the polls next year.
Vice President Joe Biden presided over a thinking group in early summer that was devising ways to cut spending in anticipation of raising the debt ceiling. At one point, Biden said there was tremendous progress on a range of areas. If that is the case, then why haven't those ideas been proposed and included in a final plan from the committee? If such an agreement never was in the works, then Americans watched as their tax dollars were squandered on yet another wasteful government operation.
I would like to see something concrete from the president. I'm not opposed to revenue increases that target debt reduction, but they can't be big ones or the economy would suffer. But, I'm willing to hear some ideas about it. We don't even get that from the Democrats. They just want to raise taxes on the people they define as "wealthy."
The class warfare needs to stop right now, and Obama is in the perfect position to serve as the lead example. We need a president who will define issues and solutions, not pass the blame to his predecessor and avoid results.
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