Just weeks ago, on 60 Minutes, the President was all about: "
Fatcat bankers who still don't get it." A year ago, we were told Wall Street bonuses were "shameful," and then some: "
Obama: Big Wall Street Bonuses 'Shameful'."
Yesterday, it was Wall Street-friendly comments on bonuses:"Obama Doesn't `Begrudge' Bonuses for Blankfein, Dimon."
All along, we have been told by the President that the middle class wouldn't see tax increases.
Today, according to Bloomberg, it's all about leaving the door open for consideration of middle class tax increases and cuts in Medicare and Social Security: "
Obama `Agnostic' on Deficit Cuts, Won't Prejudge Tax Increases."
Obama `Agnostic' on Deficit Cuts, Won't Prejudge Tax Increases
By Rich Miller
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said he is "agnostic" about raising taxes on households making less than $250,000 as part of a broad effort to rein in the budget deficit.
Obama, in a Feb. 9 Oval Office interview, said that a presidential commission on the budget needs to consider all options for reducing the deficit, including tax increases and cuts in spending on entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
"The whole point of it is to make sure that all ideas are on the table," the president said in the interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear on newsstands Friday. "So what I want to do is to be completely agnostic, in terms of solutions."
--SNIP--
"What I can't do is to set the thing up where a whole bunch of things are off the table," Obama said. "Some would say we can't look at entitlements. There are going to be some that say we can't look at taxes, and pretty soon, you just can't solve the problem."
Does Bloomberg have this story right? If so, then I really don't care how folks may attempt to rationalize a defense of these 180-degree changes in rhetoric.
It is what it is.
The blatant waffling is...very simply...stunning.
Many GOP'ers must be sitting back, saying to themselves: "Yes, let's just let the President eat his waffles."
In your comments, below, please explain to me how one defends this out on the hustings? And, as many will also probably note in the comments, I'm just scratching the surface here.
This morning, I'm feeling a great deal of sympathy for all of those Democratic Senate and House press staffers. Their job is not getting any easier this cycle.
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Disclosure Link. (At least the diarist's spouse would agree that diarist does know a little bit about the subject matter covered herein.)