Excellent speech and presentation from our President! I like what I heard, it was 95% PROGRESSIVE!!!

[Change Happens]

I am loving it...Sounded pretty much to the left of center, a great thing!

[patrice]

1. I agree. There was nothing "implied" about it. But we still must help him/them make it happen. nt

[Change Happens]

5. That's right, it is up to us to make sure he can deliver on what he said!!!

I am behind him 100%, not a bad start to the 2012 election season.

[daa]

9. Agree we can't let him start negotiating with himself again nt

[patrice]

15. Agreed. Our first line of defense/offense, the House Dems, need to take a more responsible role.That

vote late last Summer, the resolution in favor of Middle Class Tax Cut extensions without the Upper bracket extensions, pretty much deballed him in any negotiations about those upper bracket tax cuts AND set us on THEIR Repub road to Budget Cuts, instead of giving us the advantage of not appearing to be hypocrites when we say "People (the Rich) should pay for what they get out of the system" and, thus, acquiring the upper hand in defining the Budget Cuts, because we are paying our share of the costs for what we want.

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. I like 95% of what I hear and 5% of what I see. n/t

[Maru Kitteh]

3. I was quite heartened, myself. Well done, Mr. President.

[Frances]

4. Thanks for your post

[RKP5637]

6. It sure sounded good to me. I was getting rather depressed lately with the insane

illogical proposals going on. Now, I hope the drive stays behind it ... Maybe the dems have realized that compromise is really a game with the republicans to take the dems totally down. It's about time the bullies got kicked in the ass.

[Change Happens]

7. The way he attacked their plan, he pretty much told you that he sees it the same way you do...

Don't you think? I was suprised how he just laid into them!!!

[RKP5637]

11. Yep, I felt like I was on the same wave length with him! It felt really really good! He also

lay into them in a dignified and intelligent manor.

[HereSince1628]

8. I missed it, but saw this...what's this taken to mean in context?

Finally, there are those who believe we shouldn’t make any reforms to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security out of a fear that any talk of change to these programs will usher in the sort of radical steps that House Republicans have proposed. I understand these fears. But I guarantee that if we don’t make any changes at all, we won’t be able to keep our commitments to a retiring generation that will live longer and face higher health care costs than those who came before.

Indeed, to those in my own party, I say that if we truly believe in a progressive vision of our society, we have the obligation to prove that we can afford our commitments. If we believe that government can make a difference in people’s lives, we have the obligation to prove that it works – by making government smarter, leaner and more effective.

[Pirate Smile]

10. Krugman liked it. Here's his take:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/the-budget-speech/?seid=auto&smid=tw-NytimesKrugman

[Change Happens]

14. +100000000000,000000,000,000

[cui bono]

17. Did you read it or just believe what the the post claimed?

Because Krugman did not "like" it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=884006&mesg_id=884317

[Change Happens]

21. Looks like he DID indeed like it, AND added a couple of late updates

saying exactly why he likes it, and maybe he even likes it more than he first liked it!!!

[cui bono]

22. Again, saying he can live with it is can hardly be called liking it.

Maybe you're one of those who just can't stand it if people aren't happy with Obama?

[cui bono]

16. Saying he can live with it is not liking it.

Misstating what someone who liberals admire says/feels in your headline is purposely misleading.

Overall, way better than the rumors and trial balloons. I can live with this. And whatever the pundits may say, it was much, much more serious than the Ryan “plan”.

Update: I should probably say, I could live with this as an end result. If this becomes the left pole, and the center is halfway between this and Ryan, then no — better to pursue the zero option of just doing nothing and letting the Bush tax cuts as a whole expire.

That is hardly an endorsement of the plan. It's just that it's not as bad as was expected. Same as saying Obama is better than Bush, well that's not a compliment.

[patrice]

18. Krugman is an Economist; it's not called The Grey Science for nothing. That's pretty much his

attitude toward EVERYTHING, tepid.

And I do very much like what he said about what should constitute the direction toward the Left pole at this particular time, depending upon how the President's proposals work out or not.

[cui bono]

23. That's fine, but people shouldn't be misleading with their subjects by saying he liked it.

I wish there were a Left pole any more! He's exactly right that if this is the Left pole and the compromise is between this and the (extreme) Right pole then it's a terrible deal. And that's what I fear. That's what Obama keeps doing, moving the center farther right and ignoring the left, except when he's giving lip service.

[cui bono]

12. It was just a speech. What does it mean in reality?

He talked about how the rich should pay more taxes, yet he extended the tax cuts to them!

I don't care about his words any more. Let's see some action. Then we can celebrate. Until then it's just blind faith and being duped. Don't fall for it again.

[raouldukelives]

13. Well, all of his speeches sound left of center

It's the actions that have been the problem. However this time I am pleased and especially so to hear that not only will SS and Medicare be saved but they will actually be strengthened. I would assume this means much more money being diverted into those programs provided by the increased taxes on the obscenely wealthy. Good stuff!

[dennis4868]

20. the actions =

DINOs and repubs obstruction.....why do many DUers blame Obama for this? Never could figure that out....hmmmmmm......

[dennis4868]

19. the problem like everything else.....

are the DINOs and repubs in congress....they are obstructionist but DU and the PL blame Obama for that....

[Cresent City Kid]

24. If Congress gave Obama a middle class only tax cut

he would have signed it, with no hesitation. They gave him this piece of shit that said "Sign this or the middle class gets it." They fucked him and us.

[Name removed]

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