Obama pulled a 180 on using fear tactics when it comes to discussing entitlement spending and America’s senior citizens in his first campaign speech of 2012 budget speech today. Jake Tapper has the details (as Tapper put it, “throw grandma from the train”):
President Obama at the GOP House retreat, January 2010:
“We’re not going to be able to do anything about any of these entitlements if what we do is characterize whatever proposals are put out there as, ‘Well, you know, that’s — the other party’s being irresponsible. The other party is trying to hurt our senior citizens. That the other party is doing X, Y, Z.”
President Obama today:
“One vision has been championed by Republicans in the House of Representatives and embraced by several of their party’s presidential candidates…This is a vision that says up to 50 million Americans have to lose their health insurance in order for us to reduce the deficit. And who are those 50 million Americans? Many are someone’s grandparents who wouldn’t be able afford nursing home care without Medicaid. Many are poor children. Some are middle-class families who have children with autism or Down’s syndrome. Some are kids with disabilities so severe that they require 24-hour care. These are the Americans we’d be telling to fend for themselves.”
For a speech that was more fit for the campaign trail, one would think Obama would have been serious about his 2012 budget instead of attacking Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget offering line-by-line for 45 minutes while trying to scare the living hell out of America’s senior citizens…
