Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council:
This is a President, at a time when many of his supporters said we should save Medicare to be more of a political issue, said we are going to be serious, we are going to be willing to do modest, reasonable Medicare reforms, and other entitlement reforms as part of a comprehensive effort, with tax reform that would raise revenues on those that can most afford it to bring down our deficit.
I don't know how much more the President can do in sending that message, and anything that is constructive, anything that will help lead to that effort, this President is going to do. But we're going to focus on the results, not just having public meetings, we're focused on what will bring that result, and that's what the President calling for, and that's why he went out yesterday and made clear drawing firm lines in the sand has real negative consequences for our economy. That's been very clear over the last week.
We have got to bring everybody together for a compromise, a grand bargain, to give us the confidence and soundness we need on our long-term fiscal situation, and room to do more significant things on spurring job growth in the short-term.
First, where the hell has Sperling been over the past few months and why hasn't he figured out that Republicans aren't going to agree to any sort of "grand bargain," at least not a fair one? Everybody knows that President Obama has wanted such deal, but in his own words, he was left "at the altar." So what point is there in pretending that there's a chance Republicans will suddenly change their mind and agree to significant tax increases? It makes no sense and looks foolish.
Second, and far more importantly, it's insane to argue that we need to wait for a "grand bargain" to clear room for investing in job creation.
Eventually, we do need to address our long-term fiscal situation, but we do not face a fiscal emergency. Especially now that the debt limit fiasco is behind us, there is no reason whatsoever to prioritize fiscal contraction ahead of job creation.
It's true that Republicans are probably not going to support anything that will help create jobs, but the only chance of them actually agreeing to something is if President Obama enlists the public on his behalf to fight for job growth. That's exactly what most Americans say they want. Nevertheless, we keep on hearing that we must wait for this elusive "grand bargain" before there is "room to do more significant things" on boosting the economy.
Fiscally speaking, that's bullshit. The interest rate for federal borrowing is about as low as it can go, giving us plenty of access to cheap money and all the room we could possibly dream of.
The only thing that's standing between us and putting job growth first is politics. More specifically, it's the Republican Party. And if they won't act before November 2012 (and let's face it, they probably won't), then we need President Obama and the Democratic Party fighting with us to push the GOP out of office so we can finally address what most Americans believe should be their government's top priority: jobs.