Our Cowardly President Plays Politics Instead of Showing Fiscal Leadership

Today, the President once again proved that he doesn't have the guts to be a real leader. In an unusual move, he unexpectedly showed up to a White House Press briefing to rip the GOP for the battle surrounding the budget which his party was supposed to pass over six months ago.

Obama said lawmakers need to “act like grownups” and get a deal done, claiming “we have more than met the Republicans half way,” by agreeing to $73 billion in cuts from his 2011 budget - a number originally proposed by Boehner.

“We are now closer than we’ve ever been in getting an agreement,” Obama said, holding his thumb and forefinger an inch apart.

Obama, who left open the possibility of postponing a planned Wednesday trip to Philadelphia to directly participate in talks, added: “There are some things we can’t control… like earthquakes and tsunamis… What we can control is our capacity to have a reasoned, fair conversation between the parties.”

The president said his meeting with Boehner and legislative leaders Tuesday morning was productive but the speaker rejected the idea that the two sides had reached a deal.

“I think the American people recognize we are in some pretty unsettled times right now, we don’t have times for games, we don’t have time for trying to score political points and maneuvering… Not on this.”

The president's comments were political maneuvering.  He neglects to mention that it was his progressive Democratic party which refused to pass a budget when it was due because they realized that another reckless spending level would hurt their candidates chances for re-election.  Taking that even further, the Democrats realize that the voters are against their break the bank type spending, so they kicked the can down the road and the GOP is trying to follow the will of the people by cleaning up the opposition's mess.

Obama is ignoring the will of the people, but instead of saying "I disagree with you America," he is calling the GOP names. That is the type of behavior one expects from an immature child, or Chuck Schumer (I guess that's redundant).

Neither the President or his party have offered a counter-budget to the one offered by the GOP-led house.

For his part, Boehner said the meeting went well, but told reporters that the two sides weren’t close to a deal, citing the nature and size of the cuts proposed by the White House.

“Despite attempts by Democrats to lock in a number among themselves, I’ve made clear that their $33 billion is not enough,” he said in a statement, referring to the amount of real cuts proposed by Democrats.

Boehner blasted Obama’s proposal as “smokes and mirrors” and has suggested the White House accept a new one-week extension with a year-long guarantee for military spending.

Boehner and Reid will meet later today and according to the POTUS  his people were not invited, something that Boehner's  spokesman Brendan Buck contested.

“The Speaker never said he didn’t want the White House there, just that he wanted to meet with Senator Reid,” he said. “Speaker Boehner and Senator Reid have been having regular discussions on this topic for weeks. This is just one of those occasions.

We have also learned more about Boehner during this process.  This morning the Paul Ryan 2012 was unveiled. It would be easy for the Speaker to fold on the 2011 budget and divert attention to the impressive $6.2 Trillion in cuts Ryan proposed for 2012.  The fact that he is still fighting for the 2011 cuts is an indication that the Congressman is a true believer in making the cuts necessary to get our financial house in order.  The fact that President Obama is calling names is an indication that he doesn't have the guts to make the hard choices necessary.