The Phony White House Charm Offensive

Not only did the White House disavow the GOP’s 10-year budget plan put forth by House budget chief Rep. Paul Ryan, the White House will not release its budget until early April, a pattern true to the form displayed over Barack Obama’s time in office.

White House press secretary Jay Carney verbally attacked Ryan’s budget, saying it would punish middle-class Americans, cut taxes on the wealthy, and “the burden is doubled or even tripled on everyone else.”

Carney claimed Ryan’s “voucherization” reform of federal programs, including Obamacare and Medicare, “does nothing to deal with the fundamental problem, which is rising health care costs, but actually exacerbates that problem.”

These statements are in direct conflict with Obama’s heavily publicized attempt to convince the public he is trying to work with GOP legislators, which includes dinner with a group of GOP Senators, lunch with Ryan and two visits to Capitol Hill.

The real hope is that Obama’s efforts will boost his poll ratings, which have fallen noticeably since Obama tried to stop sequester cuts to the 2013 federal budget through demonization of their effect and by impugning the GOP’s motives.

Ryan’s plan is actually a reduction in spending, and does not cut federal spending at all.  “On the current path, we’ll spend $46 trillion over the next 10 years [but] under our proposal, we’ll spend $41 trillion,” Ryan wrote in a Wall Street Journal article. “On the current path, spending will increase by 5 percent each year. Under our proposal, it will increase by 3.4 percent.”

https://dailycaller.com/2013/03/12/obama-delays-budget-until-april-slams-ryans-plan/

The GOP would be well advised to proceed at their own risk with every one of their senses on full caution mode.

The current Oval Office occupant has displayed disingenuous intent on more than one occasion and there is no real evidence to assume that his “charm offensive” is anything other than a change in tactics.  The destruction of his political opposition remains the underlying strategy.

https://mjfellright.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/the-phony-white-house-charm-offensive/