No, I'm talking about the budget deal.
I don't know much, but I think I have this right: in March, the Republicans stated that any cutting of the deficit would have to be made up of 85% spending cuts, and 15% revenue increases (taxes).
So Obama, the shrewd negotiator that he is, offered up a budget that consisted of 83% spending cuts, 17% revenue increases. And of course, the Republicans quickly called him a Communist.
They won't do the deal, even though it's pretty much the exact deal they said they wanted. It's their old rule that anything Obama says - even when it's their idea - they automatically have to hate it.
Republicans don't seem to understand that they only have a majority in the House. I know "compromise" sounds like a dirty word, but that's generally what happens in negotiations when you don't have all the power. The goal is for both sides to be a little unhappy.
So it's time to knock off the nonsense. Obama has to learn what Mel Gibson learned in the movie "Ransom": you can't negotiate with terrorists.
This is my proposal:
Obama should get network TV time, and sit at his desk in the Oval office. On his desk: piles and piles of CASH.
PRESIDENT OBAMA (directly to camera)
The whole world knows now that we are unable to come up with a budget deal, and the Republicans are holding the debt ceiling hostage. This is the money that awaits the men that have the power to do something about it. This is your ransom.
$200 billion dollars in social security cuts, just like you wanted. But this is as close as you'll ever get to it. You'll never see one dollar of this money, because no ransom will ever be paid for the debt ceiling. Not one dime, not one penny.
You still have a chance to do the right thing. If you don't, well, then, God be with you, because nobody else on this Earth will be.
Then he tells Rene Russo to "just shut up...and BLOW ME, sugar tits!". And scene!
2 comments:
Love your post, but ...
Are they terrorists, or just being spoiled brats ... or spoiled terrorist brats?
Maybe an old Andy Griffith skit reasoning with Opie would be good, too ... e.g. It's not nice to threaten to take your ball & bat and go home just because things aren't exactly the way that you want them.
Is this not the most ridiculous thing ever???
I just want to spank them all!!!
Hack, you and I must be the only ones on this blog that have opinions on this ... just had to add:
Watching Republicans and Democrats squabble from their ideological battle lines over the debt ceiling is the same as watching a bratty child fall out in the middle of the floor with a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his way.
On one hand, Republicans are desperately trying to hold on to their purely insane ideological position that there must be no revenue and/or tax increases. It's as if these idiots refuse to believe any data that make clear that the massive tax cuts put in place by President George W. Bush have increased the federal deficit.
Then there are the Democrats, who have this equally insane belief that we can reduce the deficit and not touch Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Those three areas, along with the billions we continue to spend on national defense, constitute most of the dollars we spend on the federal budget. And those costs are spiraling out of control. So, of course, we must make some hard choices, and yes, that will mean making adjustments that might upset seniors.
If the GOP gets its way, we lose. If the Democrats get their way, we lose. We simply cannot continue down this insane path of ideological purity driving our nation's agenda. If President Ronald Reagan understood that he had to accept revenue increases and President Bill Clinton saw that welfare needed to be changed, then President Barack Obama's lead must be followed in brokering a deal where all sides have skin in this game.
Damnit ... why can't our politicians on both sides see this logic???? Sorry for the long post.
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