President Obama and the White House have steadfastly refused to provide details on this afternoon’s landmark speech on his vision for reducing the country’s debt in the days and hours preceding it, and the reticence is giving detractors ample opportunity to frame the debate.
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has spent the last two days ginning up the public against any mention of a tax increase as a way to rein in the deficit, and the latest incoming fire comes from Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus who has labeled the speech a budget “do-over” and ridiculed Obama’s self-proclaimed role as the adult in the room, the only one willing to stop the political games and strike a compromise.
“It’s rare for a president to attempt a budget do-over but after failing to make any of the tough decisions on his first budget, the president needs a mulligan,” Priebus said in a statement issued Wednesday morning before the speech.
Priebus also makes a broad assertion that Republicans are winning the spending argument and warns Obama not to raise the issue of increasing taxes — or else.
“It’s become clear the White House is losing the spending argument to Republicans in Congress and now the President is on defense with another Hail Mary speech,” Priebus said. “Unfortunately, this president’s answer for every problem is more tax hikes while ignoring Washington’s addiction to spending.”
“The simple truth is our current rate of spending is unsustainable and inhibits job growth. Republicans have already begun this adult conversation with the American people – it’s time for the President to join.”
In making such a sweeping statement about who’s winning the debate, Priebus is ignoring polls that credit Obama and the Democrats with avoiding a shutdown. John Boehner and Republicans may have won the short-term fight inside-the-beltway, where chest-thumping and scoring politics points are recorded by the hour, but could lose the much bigger 2012 messaging war by turning off independent voters who want the partisan bickering to end and who value compromise.
A series of polls on the deficit debate by the Pew Center for the People and the Press showed just how pragmatic most Americans are when confronted with the deficit question.
In a December poll, a whopping 65 percent said the best way to reduce the federal budget deficit is to cut major programs and increase taxes.
“Majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents favored a combination of spending cuts and tax increases,” the Pew poll found.
As to who is winning the debate? Pew says no one so far. Republicans may have an edge in terms of their reputation for cutting spending and Obama’s and Democrats record so far, but when it comes down to details and actual plans, neither side has an advantage and there is plenty of room to define the debate and win supporters.
As President Obama prepares for his speech, the public gives him and his party low marks for their handling of the issue. In a Pew survey earlier this month, just 33 percent approved of his handling of the federal budget deficit; 59 percent disapproved. The GOP led the Democrats by 12 points as the party better able to handle the deficit (46 percent to 34 percent). Yet when asked whether the GOP, or Obama, has the better approach on the deficit, most Americans (52 percent) say there is not much difference between the two sides.
