9:57 AM PT: Thread 1 is here. If you're just tuning in, Obama is absolutely killing this speech. Fantastic so far. Worth watching on demand when it's posted in full.
10:01 AM PT:
FOX, having cut away from Obama speech, now doing segment on "Mystery Noise" heard by WI residents #TheseAreFacts
— @BenjySarlin via TweetDeck
Aww, President Obama got Mitt Romney a present - a beautiful Paul Ryan budget anvil necklace. That's sweet.
— @pourmecoffee via TweetDeck
10:06 AM PT: President Obama says the Republican trickle-down approach is "thinly-veiled Darwinism." It is a "prescription for decline." it is "antithetical" to what America is about. So Obama says he'll fight these ideas with everything he's got.
10:10 AM PT: Obama says he's willing to restrain spending, but there must be balance. The Bush tax cuts need to be rolled back. We need to continue to slow the growth in the cost of Medicare.
10:10 AM PT:
10:11 AM PT: No, Clinton era tax rates aren't socialism. Getting rid of the Bush tax cuts, as Obama says, "isn't class envy ... it's math."
10:13 AM PT: President Obama's speech is over—as I said above, it was fantastic, well worth watching later. I believe he'll take a few questions from the podium before leaving the stage.
10:16 AM PT: First question is: "What can you say to Americans who just want both sides to stop fighting." Obama says he can understand their frustration, because the problems we have are solvable "if people of good faith [were willing to come] together and compromise." "The challenge we have," he says, "is that on one side we have a party that will not [accept] compromise." Obama cites the famous debate question about whether any Republicans would accept a 10:1 spending cuts to revenue increases deal. "Not one of them raised their hands," he said. "Think of that! Ronald Reagan, who as I recall was not accused of being a tax-and-spend-socialist ... understand that he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases. ... He could not get through a Republican primary today."
10:20 AM PT: Obama continues hammering Republicans for moving so far to the right. "Cap and trade was originally proposed by Republicans ... now they say we shouldn't even be thinking about environmental protection." "The individual mandate ... originated as a conservative idea. ... Now suddenly this is some socialist overreach. So, as all of you are doing your reporting, I think it's important to remember that the positions I'm taking now on the budget and a whole host of other issues ... [20 years ago] would have been squarely centrist." It's Republicans that have shifted.
10:31 AM PT: Questioned about what would happen if SCOTUS overturns all or part of Obamacare, Obama says the court hasn't overturned a law like this at least since Lochner. "I expect the Court to recognize that ... I have enormous confidence in looking at this law that not only is it constitutional" but that the court will uphold it. So, he says, the administration is not actively planning contingencies.
10:34 AM PT: With that, the Q&A period has concluded, and President Obama leaves the stage.
