Brilliant idea! Well, not for the president. We should pay congress big if they come up with a long term deficit reduction plan. You could even pay them big money (millions of dollars each) and it would pale in comparison to the difference in long term debt. Then you pay out that compensation over a period of 10-20 years. Clawbacks apply for changing existing plans in a material way. There are plenty of holes in this (who picks the goals, who determines when clawbacks apply, what happens if a subsequent congress changes things), but we have to encourage congress to do something.
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Regarding the President's recent decision on immigration policy... “Would you repeal Obama’s order if you become president?” “Well, let’s step back and look at the issue,” "OK, what would you do about it?" “What I would do is I’d make sure that by coming into office I would work with Congress to put in place a long-term solution for the — for the children of those that have come here illegally. And I’ve said, for instance, that those who served in the military, I would give permanent residence, too.” “Sure, but would you repeal this?” “Well, it would be overtaken by events, if you will, by virtue of my putting in place a long-term solution with — with legislation which creates law that relates to these individuals, such that they know what their setting is going to be, but would not just – not just for the term of the president, but on a permanent basis.” “I won’t keep on about this, but just to make sure I understand, would you leave this in place while you worked out a long-term solution or would you just repeal it?” “We’ll look at that — we’ll look at that setting as we– as we reach that,”
Some good news for the President, and evidence of why he's finally working hard to appeal to his base, IMO. Here's part of the aritcle. From Bloomberg News: Barack Obama has opened a significant lead over Mitt Romney in a Bloomberg National Poll that reflects the presumed Republican nominee’s weaknesses more than the president’s strengths. Obama leads Romney 53 percent to 40 percent among likely voters, even as the public gives him low marks on handling the economy and the deficit, and six in 10 say the nation is headed down the wrong track, according to the poll conducted June 15- 18. The survey shows Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, has yet to repair the damage done to his image during the Republican primary. Thirty-nine percent of Americans view him favorably, about the same as when he announced his presidential candidacy last June, while 48 percent see him unfavorably -- a 17-percentage point jump during a nomination fight dominated by attacks ads. A majority of likely voters, 55 percent, view him as more out of touch with average Americans compared with 36 percent who say the president is more out of touch. Taken together, the results suggest an unsettled political environment for both Obama and Romney five months from the November election, with voters choosing for now to stick with a president they say is flawed rather than backing a challenger they regard as undefined and disconnected. Importance of Turnout You can see in these data how important turnout will be,” says J. Ann Selzer of Des Moines, Iowa-based Selzer & Co. who directed the poll. “Those most enthusiastic about the election are more supportive of Romney, but Obama’s voters are more locked into their candidate than Romney’s. Building resolve to vote and making the vote stick is job one, and both candidates face obstacles toward getting that done.” The presidential race is roughly tied among the most enthusiastic voters, 49 percent of whom back Romney compared with 48 percent for Obama. Still, Romney inspires far less enthusiasm even among his supporters than does Obama, with 35 percent of Romney backers saying their support for him is “very strong,” compared with 51 percent of Obama backers who say so. “I would rather choose to vote for someone else, but there’s no one but Obama,” says John Sunde, a 57-year-old Verizon central office technician from Brentwood, New York, when asked which candidate would get his vote. “He hasn’t fulfilled a lot of his campaign promises, but I would vote for him anyway because Romney would be extremely destructive for this country.” http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...in-poll-as-voters-view-romney-as-out-of-touch
LOL, WTF Gravy bowl < Obama I'm glad he told me so, otherwise it was pretty much a toss up at this point.
Obama Battleground States Lead Expands Over Romney, Poll Shows Among voters polled from Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin, Obama leads Romney, 50 percent to 42 percent. That number continues a positive trend for the president. Two months ago, the swing-state number was 47 percent to 45 percent. One month ago it was 48 percent to 42 percent. Among swing-state respondents, 18 percent say what they’ve seen and heard about Romney’s business record gives them a more positive opinion about the Republican candidate, versus 33 percent who say it’s more negative. That’s compared to the national 23-to-28 percent margin on this question.
You are equating a blog post that says "just because Obama is leading Romney in the polls really doesn't mean he's leading in the polls" with an NBC News/Wall Street Journal Survey ooookay, rock on baby brotha!
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I agree, one of the best narrative pivots out of the right-wing in a long time. Really, I thought you guys would at least take a day or two to the marching orders over the cables, but times have changed. Bravo.
karma is a b**** via TPM -- Who Coulda Seen This Coming? Not only is Mitt Romney’s record on the individual mandate out of step with the Republican Party, but there is no one on his side of the aisle that can or will come to his defense on that issue. Mitt Romney Stands Alone On Health Care Romney boldly predicted other governors would follow right behind him when he jumped into the universal health care pool in 2006. None did — until Obama came along. The president’s embrace of the mandate prompted Republicans who previously had supported a mandate to flee. Romney, on the other hand, refused to condemn his signature achievement, making him the last prominent Republican holding the bag. The result is a mess for Team Romney as the former governor’s campaign is forced to defend his signature law on its own, without a single like-minded surrogate to back him up.
As we get close to November and Romney and Obama really start debating universal health care Mitt is going to be digging himself out of a deep hole. You can't knock something you supported 100% just a few years ago.
