How Obama used Paul Ryan
President Obama may be criticized after his speech Wednesday for not providing many specifics about his plan to cut the national debt.
What he will not be criticized for is being too soft on Republicans.
The target of Obama’s speech was unmistakable, as the president used his pulpit at George Washington University to lay into the House Republican plan proposed by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
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Obama talked in-depth about Ryan’s plan, casting it in extremely dark terms.
He said it includes cuts that concede the very fiber of America and that “paint a vision of our future that’s deeply pessimistic.” He said the plan would leave crumbling roads and collapsing bridges unfixed. He said the plan “ends Medicare as we know it” and that up to 50 million Americans could lose their insurance – all while the wealthy get tax breaks.
“That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I’m president,” Obama said.
The statement was one of several bold pronouncements from Obama about the Ryan plan. A sampling:
* “We do not have to sacrifice the America we believe in. And as long as I’m president, we won’t.”
* On the Bush tax cuts: “I refuse to renew them again.”
* “There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. There’s nothing courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill. And this is not a vision of the America I know.”
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