President Obama finished his speech to the nation about the current federal budget battle. His speech was meant to be a clarification of his position and a response to budget proposals by Congressional Republicans.
In his speech he outlined four proposals to reduce the long-term debt:
1. Keep domestic spending low by implementing cuts agreed to by both parties in Congress in the past weeks.
2. Cut the defense budget without compromising national security.
3. Reduce health care spending by changing incentives for treatment.
4. Reform the tax code by reducing deductions and not extending tax cuts to the wealthiest earners.
The speech was well presented because it did not only lay out his proposals for reducing the deficit. It was also a history lesson. Obama began with a brief outline of how the deficit got so large. He educated everyone on how the budget is divided. He also described how the budget plan fits into a vision of America for future generations.
After the speech I was left feeling more confident that our leaders will come to a deal soon, not because of the June 30th deadline he proposed, but because of the feeling of confidence the President displayed in the speech as a whole. Then the cameras turned to panels on CNN and Fox and I thought how damaging these commentaries are. Each of these networks will try to spin the speech in a way that fits their agenda. I encourage anyone who did not see the speech to either read it here or watch it from a news website.
No comments:
Post a Comment