Obama Goes Both Ways on Deficit, Entitlements

President Barack Obama hasn’t made it clear where he stands on the budget deficit and entitlements, Politico reports. At times he has called for reductions in both, and at other times he has withdrawn on the issues, leaving Congress with responsibility for dealing with them.

The president created a bipartisan deficit commission last year but never pushed for its conclusions. He stood on the sidelines to make Republicans present the first deficit reduction plan.

That’s what House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan did, and now Obama will finally reveal his own plan in a speech Wednesday. “The goal here is to start dealing with the entitlement crisis, and get credit for doing so, without getting ripped apart like Paul Ryan has,” a senior Democratic operative told Politico,