When “Balance” Doesn’t Mean “Balanced”
A telling exchange happened during todays’ White House press briefing. Jay Carney was spouting his usual talking points about a “balanced approach.” Jonathan Karl of ABC News then asked whether or not the president’s budget will be “balanced.” What we got was a tortured explanation by Carney admitting that Obama’s budget won’t balance and that a budget that’s “balanced” doesn’t mean a “balanced budget.”
“So, I asked Carney today if the White House expects – or hopes – that the budget to be released Wednesday by Senate Democrats would include the entitlement cuts proposed by the President. The exchange produced an unusual discussion of unbalanced balance and – for the first time, the White House said the President’s upcoming budget will not be a balanced budget:
KARL: Do you expect — do you hope when the Senate Democrats release their budget tomorrow that it has entitlement reforms along the lines of what the president has proposed?
MR. CARNEY: Well, I will wait for the budget to be put forward, and Senator Murray to do that. We do expect it to be balanced, that — to have the principle of balance inherent in its proposals. If it’s not — and I don’t expect it will be — in agreement on every item of the president’s proposal, it will be consistent with the president’s balanced approach, we expect. …
KARL: When we say balanced, you don’t mean balanced –
MR. CARNEY: I mean a balanced approach to deficit reduction that includes asking everyone to pay their share.
Q: But it will not be a balanced budget –
MR. CARNEY: No, what the president’s budget proposal will do, as his previous proposals have done, is achieve the economically important goal of bringing our debt-to-GDP down below 3 percent.”
This type of ridiculous explanation shows just how out-of-touch President Obama and Washington Democrats are. Families and businesses across the country have to balance their budgets, but Democrats just don’t see the importance of it.
Americans are tired of the double-speak. The time has come to balance the budget and create jobs. Democrats obviously haven’t seemed to figure this out.