Posted on 07/29/2011 11:43:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday that President Obama’s debt ceiling plan is the best-known option at this point. There’s just one problem with that: No publicly available, detailed Obama plan exists.
“There is no plan that has been offered, certainly in the last several months, about which more detail is known or has been specified than the Obama-Boehner plan, okay, in terms of the cuts in domestic spending, both defense and non-defense discretionary; the savings coming out of entitlements programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security; the kind of tax reform that was envisioned and the mechanisms by which tax revenue would be a hard thing for Republicans to accept but was part of the deal — that would be $800 billion, that would be part of this proposal,” Carney said.
What Carney was referring to is the negotiations Obama and House Speaker John Boehner were conducting behind closed doors. No written plan ever came out of those meetings, and the two political leaders never reached an agreement. Boehner went on to develop his own plan.
After learning of Carney’s declaration of confidence in his boss’s plan, Senate Republicans struck back at Obama. In a web posting, the Senate GOP asked of Carney’s statement: “Where is the CBO score? Where is the text? Where is the plan?”
The Daily Caller reported Wednesday that Obama has been able to avoid making political enemies inside the Democratic Party by keeping his plans and proposals limited to negotiations behind closed doors. Not informing the public about specific plans or proposals he supports or opposes can help him minimize political damage.
Carney appears to confirm that sentiment. As for why Obama hasn’t been specific with what he supports and opposes, Carney said it’s politically smarter to remain vague.
“If you lay out a proposal that’s politically — by yourself that’s extremely politically hard for your party, whether you’re Republican or Democrat, it’s like putting a clay pigeon in the air,” Carney said. “It’s ensuring its defeat. And that’s — and maybe that’s a sad statement, perhaps, about how Washington works, but it’s an incredibly realistic statement about how Washington works.”
More confusion about what specifically White House officials are referring to when talking about Obama’s plan ensued later on Thursday. In a White House Twitter chat Thursday afternoon, Obama administration officials tweeted out a link to what they call the president’s debt ceiling plan. Instead of linking to the “Obama-Boehner” plan Carney referred to mere hours before, the link directs to an April 13 White House “Fiscal Responsibility” fact sheet. The fact sheet does not use the term “debt ceiling.”
Really Mr. Carney?
What plan is this?
Where is it?
Because the only ‘plan’ coming out of the Dem camp is “extend our credit card limit” and “Spend spend spend spend SPEND!”
LOL
There you go again Jay, puffing on loco weed and mainlining crack.
We know what your plan is... deals made behind closed doors. REPUBLICANS: STOP ALL SPENDING NOW. NO DEALS.
So he thinks that doing nothing is the best course of action? Interesting.
What a howling lie. Someone ought to tie his tongue to his teeth for that one!!
Yes, Jay....that’s because all of your flaks in the media love the socialist smoke and mirrors as much as you do!
A “plan”, Jay, is laid out in writing, with specific budget items listed along side dollar amounts. Likely with dates and totals and such.....
Hey....if it’s the best plan, let the House and Senate vote on it......now. Not Reid’s plan, but the Presidents.
I thought Robert Gibbs was an idiot until they found this clown.
Plan, eh?
Maybe Jay thinks by ‘debt plan’, you mean... a plan to CREATE debt!!
“O” certainly has THAT one nailed.
It’s the double secret plan, hidden way, way down the rabbit hole, where only Obama can go.
I don’t know. The scrawney little twerp likes the gig and I’m sure he really likes the paycheck, so he pops out, like Punxatawney Phil, several times a day and spouts whatever was pumped into him behind closed doors.
I knew a very earthy old farmer years ago who prized his independence and being his own man. When observing some kind of situation; perhaps similar to what Carney does for a living, he would say, in his down-to-earth manner: “I’d go out to the barnyard and peck $hit with the chickens before I’d put up with a job like that!” I personally feel the same way about Carney’s gig.
wow. serious “1984” stuff.
and MILLIONS of American voters
(and lots of non-Americans who will vote also)
believe this!!!
what the hell are they smoking in that white house?
No need for concern, folks! It's ALL part of his plan to to have the most transparent presidential administration in the history of the nation.
A speech is not a plan. The CBO has already stated, they cannot score a speech.
A plan states the goals, provides means to arrive at the goal, and takes into consideration the realities and difficulties of achieving that objective. There are numbers and priorities assigned, and some basis for any projection into the future, using rational numbers and reasonable assumptions.
A speech is just a string of platitudes, but without substance once the sound has faded away.
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