President Obama (White House photo)
ABC News previews President Obama's budget. At this point, it's all about setting the media narrative:
President Obama today officially unveils a 2013 budget that outlines his tax and spending priorities for the coming year, and doubles down on populist proposals central to his re-election campaign. [...]
But with little chance that Congress will enact the agenda, and many of the included proposals already rejected, the presentation will be largely a moment of political theater aimed at projecting an image of the president as a “warrior for the middle class.”
The budget includes $350 billion in jobs programs and $476 billion in infrastructure spending, which is effectively also jobs creation. These measures would include transportation projects, modernizing schools, and keeping teachers, police, and fire fighters on the job. The president also, once again, wants the Bush tax cuts for families earning more than $250,000 a year to expire, and adding a
Buffett Rule provision, in which if you make more than $1 million, you pay a minimum tax rate of 30 percent.
But, you know, because Republicans will reject all of these much-needed and generally popular measures, it's "political theater."