Obama as Howard Beale

I watched the President's speech last night. In it, he blamed Republicans for refusing to raise taxes on corporate fat cats and their jets for the debt-ceiling crisis in which Washington finds itself. Again! As if raising taxes on the wealthy is the solution to Washington's spendy ways.

At the end of his speech he asked Americans to go to their windows, open them, and shout at their Republican congressman and senator, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

That's what the President did last night. Are they yelling in Atlanta? Tuscon? Oklahoma City?

Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats have decided that the President is not part of the solution when it comes to these negotiations, he's part of the problem. They've decided to work on a short-term solution without him.

At least, he got to "make his witness."



UPDATE: From Peter Roff:

In his speech, Obama quoted Ronald Reagan who, at one time in his presidency, signed off on a deal known as “TEFRA” that was supposed to cut the deficit through the closing of tax loopholes and the introduction of tougher enforcement of tax rules. And, at its center, was a promise of $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in new revenue.

Sound familiar? Well, as most everyone who warned Reagan against the deal predicted, the revenues increases came about straight away while the spending cuts mysteriously never seemed to materialize.