i know the editorial page doesn t speak for you or you the editorial page. it doesn t. but it says today, that the administration s claim to have come up with a $4 trillion in deficit reduction is misleading. mr. obama backed away from some of the entitlement reforms he entertained in his closed door discussions with john boehner. he s taking medicare off the table unless it s matched by tax increases and he s taking social security completely off the table. well, yeah. i mean, you know, you have to recognize, boehner has also backed off from a lot of things he agreed to behind closed doors with obama as well. i do think john has a very good point in that this is more of a traditional negotiation where each side states a more maximalist position and maybe they try to reach in the middle. what has happened before is that the president has not stated a maximalist position. his opening position has been,
country. the president is looking for the biggest deal he can get. continue to push congressional leaders for the largest possible deal. there is going to be resistance. there is frankly resistance on my side to do anything on entitlements. there is resistance to do anything on revenues. if each side takes it a maximalist position, if each side wants 100% of what the presis positions are, then we can t get anything done. voters see him who will you blame if the
we are talking about taking subsidies from big oil and people on their corporate jets. these are reasonable things when we are asking americans to shave off and give up very important programs that actually make america a great country. let me play for you a little more of what the president said yesterday and ask you about it on the other side. there is frankly resistance on my side to do anything on entitlements. there is strong resistance on the republican side to do anything on revenues. if each side takes a maximalist position, we can t get anything done. that s the point he s been pounding at. is he right? are the progressives and the tea party, those on the far right and the far left really the problem here? no. the fact is people in the
think, would benefit from that. moreover, i think it would give the american people enormous confidence that this town can actually do something once in a while. that we can defy the expectations that we re always think in terms of short-term politics in the next election and every once in a while, we break out of that and we do what s right for the country. so i continue to push congressional leaders for the largest possible deal. and there s going to be resistance. there is frankly resistance on my side to do anything on entitlements. there is a strong resistance on the republican side to do anything on revenues. but if each side takes a maximalist position, if each side wants 100% of what it id
them. moreover, i think it would give the american people enormous confidence that this town can actually do something once in a while, that we can defy the expectations that we re always thinking in terms of short term poll fiction in the next election and every once in a while we break out of that and do what s right for the country. so i continue to push congressional leaders for the largest possible deal, and there s going to be resistance, there is frankly resistance on my side to do anything on entitlements, there is strong resistance on the republican side to do anything on revenues. but if each side takes a maximalist position, if each side wants 100 percent of what its ideological