Are Republicans winning the deficit debate?

President Obama has more interviews with local reporters scheduled on Tuesday so he can talk about the deficit. He’ll sit down in the Map Room with reporters from a handful of politically important states — Georgia, Ohio, Virginia and Michigan. The White House says Obama plans to “discuss his vision for reducing our debt and bringing down our deficit, based on the values of shared responsibility and shared prosperity.”

From the Euphemist in Chief

Schadenfreude on April 26, 2011 at 2:34 PM

News2Use, the meat of it

It’s unbelievable to me that you spent last week in campaign mode, gallivanting around the country to start raising the billion dollars for your reelection bid that is still 19 months away “while Rome burns.” Our economy is in the tank; jobs are as scarce as ever; you’re asking Congress to let you incur even more unsustainable, immoral, freedom-stealing government debt; and many of our brave men and women in uniform are shaking their heads in disbelief over your befuddled military directions. Yet instead of working with Congress and a wise multitude of advisers to fix some problems, you choose all this campaigning, already? As was recently asked: When do you ever just “roll up your sleeves, unplug the teleprompter” and do the job of governing and administrating for which voters hired you?

I know, I know, granted you will be even busier very soon. After all, golf season kicks into high gear shortly. NBA and NHL brackets await. Summer vacations and that all-consuming campaign whistle stop tour will no doubt slam you. But I would ask, while the rest of us are also busy working, saving, planning ahead, fighting to protect our Constitution, and trying to keep up with where and why you’re spending our Department of Defense funds – I’d ask that you find time to tell Americans the truth about the state of our union and what you are doing to find solutions to our challenges. Please start with explaining Libya.

Schadenfreude on April 26, 2011 at 2:49 PM

AS GO GAS PRICES, SO GOES 2012? It was already clear that rising gas prices have not been doing wonders for President Obama’s poll numbers — Obama, himself, acknowledged as much last week. Now here’s more evidence: “With gas up 26 percent this year to an average $3.88 a gallon, seven in 10 Americans in this ABC News/Washington Post poll report financial hardship as a result, six in 10 say they’ve cut back on driving — and, among those hardest hit, Obama’s ratings are suffering,” writes ABC polling analyst Gary Langer. The poll found “the president’s job approval rating 13 points lower among people who say the price of gas is causing them hardship. Forty-three percent of them approve of the president, vs. 56 percent of those who report no hardship. And among the four in 10 feeling ‘serious’ hardship, just 39 percent approve of Obama’s work in office.”

Here’s the key statistic: “In re-election terms, 53 percent of those who are feeling serious hardship as a result of gas prices say they definitely will not vote for Obama in 2012 — 14 points more than say so among those who are feeling either less-than-serious hardship, or none at all.”

Schadenfreude on April 26, 2011 at 3:00 PM

Many in the tea party movement feel an affinity for Rand. One of its most-admired politicians, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, has said Rand is “the reason I got involved in public service.”

Schadenfreude on April 26, 2011 at 3:11 PM