Nip It In The Budget

For those who complain that Obama didn't fight hard enough on last week's budget shutdown showdown, let's talk about two things:

1. This was a lose-lose situation for Obama PR-wise. If he didn't put out and push for his own plan, then he's not leading. If he did put and and push for his own plan, he'd be attacked as being unrealistic. Again: votes aside, Obama just doesn't have the press and media behind him to the same degree the GOP does, and that gives him another obstacle (especially in regards to gaining the support of the independent voters). And now that Obama has put together a plan and begun to promote it a little, what has happened? The "media" is claiming that he's targeting the poor rich people.
2. The Congressional Progressive Caucus - the only group in Congress that can be called liberal at this point - has put out their own budget. Keep in mind that this was done on April 6, 2011, as in, "right in the middle of this mess." Just like the reaction to the Health Care Protests, this was a good response, just not timely enough. But that aside, who in the CPC is going to make sure that the President incorporates their budget idea in his proposal? How many liberal, progressive and pro-Democrat websites and blogs will push this alternative to Paul Ryan's batshit crazy budget? When will we see the CPC's plan on Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, Cenk Uygu, or Lawrence O'Donnell's respective shows?

It's painfully obvious to anyone who doesn't believe in everything that Fox News says that the GOP leaders are lying about who this budget actually helps and who it actually hurts. A budget can't work unless there's a plan to generate more revenue; cutting expenses is just one side of the equation. To that end, there needs to be a tax increase somewhere, it the rich is the only demographic that can take a hit. Also, until someone makes defense spending one of the areas what funding gets cut, any talk about reducing deficits is just that: talk.