President Obama did not wait to kick off his $1 billion dollar 2012 campaign later this week in Chicago. He did so today in a speech at George Washington University. The speech was billed in advance as a policy address regarding his plan to cut the national debt and reduce spending.
Professor Obama spent the first 20 minutes of what I would call a 2012 campaign kick-off speech lecturing the public on the economic realities that face the government.
Then he put on his partisan hat and fiercely attacks the Republican Ryan “Path to Prosperity” plan using language and threats to please his Democratic allies who are beginning to have second thoughts about President Obama.
Obama is in trouble with his liberal base as reported in The Washington Post this morning. He said in the GW speech he was “sympathetic” to those who oppose cutting spending now, but came right back in campaign mode to say “doing nothing on the deficit is just not an option.”
We should have known this would be a campaign event when the President sent our this 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe to all the Sunday talk shows to announce the forthcoming “policy address on the debt.” Plouffe is now a senior White House advisory – likely providing political advice not economic policy counsel.
What this country needs is a President-In Chief not a Campaigner-In-Chief.