New York Times White House reporter Jackie Calmes, a consistent defender of Obama's fiscal philosophy (and even the lack of one [1]), announced on Thursday yet another 'major address' by President Obama: 'Obama to Press Committee on Jobs [2].'
President Obama will deliver a major address soon after Labor Day seeking to pressure a special Congressional committee to propose new measures to promote job creation as well as larger long-term deficit cuts than mandated, aides said Wednesday.
Calmes likened Obama's newly found deficit-reduction 'ambition' to 'tax increases on the wealthy.'
As for deficit reduction, Mr. Obama suggested that he would call in his speech for the bipartisan 12-member Congressional committee that was created by his debt-reduction deal with Republicans this month to be more ambitious about deficit-reduction than its formal charge requires - including tax increases on the wealthy, which Republicans oppose.
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In a memorandum to House Republicans on Wednesday, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the majority leader, said their agenda must include 'stopping the discussions of new stimulus spending with money that we simply do not have.' He accused the president of waging 'class warfare' - Republican code for Mr. Obama's proposed tax increases on high incomes.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican minority leader, criticized 'job-killing tax increases' and said, 'Continuing the spending spree on failed stimulus programs won't shrink the deficit.'
Calmes again insisted Obama's economic 'stimulus' had been successful, albeit not enough to have actually done much good:
Many economists argue that while temporary spending and tax cuts add to deficits initially, such measures can increase tax collections, reduce costs for safety-net programs and ultimately keep deficits smaller than otherwise by spurring business activity and lowering unemployment. How economists would judge Mr. Obama's proposals will depend on their details; contrary to Republicans' claims, economists generally judged his 2009-10 stimulus program to have helped, but to have been insufficient to overcome the deep downturn.