"There's no reason for us not to act right now. And over the course of the next few weeks, I'm going to be putting out more proposals to put people to work right now," said President Obama.
He wants to create jobs by building up infrastructure and slash four trillion dollars in spending; that includes entitlements.
But he's not revealing specifics until early September.
"Why don't he tell us today?" asked one man.
That's what the GOP Presidential candidates are asking.
Too little too late," said Mitt Romney.
Presidential Candidate Rick Perry said, "The President's actions are killing jobs in this country."
Washington won't be working again for a few weeks.
Congress is taking a summer recess and beginning today, so is the President with his family.
By splitting the plan into future savings in exchange for current spending, the president means to protect his long-sought tax increases. Republicans will push had for a tax simplification that closes loopholes but uses that money to bring down rates and spur growth in a revenue-neutral fashion. The president wants that income preserved to finance more demand-side stimulus now.
Regular readers will recognize this as a steroidal version of a J. Wellington Wimpy – I would gladly give you debt reduction on Tuesday for new spending today.
The president will want the debt commission to focus on the debt alone. Republicans will want the discussion about taxes to include economic growth.
Obama promises to ladle on specifics when he returns from his trip, and does so with a warning to John Boehner. Obama says his plan will essentially reflect the deal he and Boehner were working on when debt-limit negations went kablooey. This will be a way for Obama to try to undercut Boehner’s clout in his caucus, leaving to Boehner to dispute or deny details of a plan that will cause fiscal conservatives to roar with indignation. (Of course, Obama own dispirited base won’t like it much either.)
Assuming Obama does have a pile of specifics to defend heading into three months of brutal fall budgetary battles – first the looming expiration of the temporary spending plan passed in the spring on Sept. 30 and then the findings of the super committee after Thanksgiving – he may come to yearn for these dog day doldrums.
Howard Dean has declared that the Bush political machine will destroy new Republican frontrunner Rick Perry long before Democrats need to worry about him, and the gathering conventional wisdom in Washington is that he’s right.
The sharp criticism for Perry’s remarks about treating Federal Reserve Chairman “ugly” if he were to engage in another round of stimulus cash conjuring ahead of the 2012 election from George W. Bush loyalists Karl Rove and Tony Fratto reminded political reporters what they had long known – Bushworld and Perry people are not on good terms.
The best evidence of that came in 2010 when Rove aided Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in her unusual primary challenge to Perry. Hutchison’s failed bid busted Texas Republican politics wide open as GOPers scrambled to pick sides or run for cover and proved the level of animosity between some on Team Bush and the operation around Perry, now governor for a decade.
That friction has been transported to the national level as Americans discover that while Bush and Perry may sound the same, they are very different people. One is Andover, the other is Paint Creek Rural School. One was an fighter jock in the reserves, the other flew cargo planes in the career military. One is Republican nobility the other is a plains Democrat turned populist Republican.
On policy they differ too. Where Bush was a nuanced “compassionate” conservative, Perry is a blunter instrument with down-the-line conservative views.
But the contrast that matters now isn’t between Bush and Perry, but between Perry and Romney. As the race rapidly winnows to a two-man slugfest, the political professionals, big donors and activists who helped elect Bush twice face the question of Mitt versus Rick.
A leading indicator of how conservatives from Bush World will fall is Ray Sullivan, who ended up as Perry’s gubernatorial chief of staff after his rapid rise through the Bush ranks, including stints working for Rove and Hutchison. Sullivan is leaving his official post to serve as a senior adviser and message man to Perry’s presidential campaign.
Bush campaign operations honcho Sal Purpura has signed on as Perry’s treasurer and there are rumors of other notable crossovers to come.
One place to keep a close eye is on those who either endorsed Perry against Hutchison or stayed silent on the race. Bush confidante and former Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Bush campaign manager and FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh both backed Perry and will be ones to watch. Another potential prize for Perry would be Karen Hughes, the communications guru who helped package Bush’s successful message. She’s stayed out of the fray so far, and would be a key signing for the Perry Camp.
“This isn’t about old rivalries, this is about making the right choice at a critical moment for this country. Governor Perry is the antidote to Obama fatigue,” one longtime Bush loyalist told Power Play. “There are many of us who look forward to helping him make that case.
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