It was just a matter of time before this came out. A top Republican aide is sending around an email stating that President Obama’s endorsement of the “Gang of Six” just “killed” the bill from passing.
The so-called “Gang of Six” is composed of three Republicans and three Democrats, all working together to come up with an alternative plan to the negotiations going on in the White House in regards to raising the debt ceiling. Because of the plan’s close resemblance to what the President originally said he wanted in any deal – at least $4 trillion in cuts and changes in the taxes for the rich to allow for revenue increases – Mr. Obama came out on Tuesday and praised the efforts being made.
What it says is we’ve got to be serious about reducing discretionary spending, both in domestic spending and defense. We’ve got to be serious about tackling health care spending and entitlements in a serious way. And we’ve got to have some additional revenue, so that we have an approach in which there’s shared sacrifice and everybody is giving up something.
So for us to see Democratic senators acknowledge we’ve got to deal with our long-term debt problems that arise out of our various entitlement programs, and for Republican senators to acknowledge that revenues will have to be part of a balanced package that makes sure nobody is disproportionately hurt by us making progress on the debt and deficits, I think is a very significant step.
And that almost endorsement triggered the email from the anonymous aide. Politico reports;
A Senate Republican leadership aide emails with subject line “Gang of Six”: “Background guidance: The President killed any chance of its success by 1) Embracing it. 2) Hailing the fact that it increases taxes. 3) Saying it mirrors his own plan.”
No surprises here, really. It was just a matter of time. Anything this President endorses, even if it was originally a Republican idea, gets these same Republicans to run for the hills.
Watch them run!…
