Now, it’s getting serious. Things are so critical, in fact, that Barack Obama called the nation together — OK, maybe not the entire nation, but that part which tunes in to morning presidential news conferences, anyway — to discuss, yes, corporate jets.
And while corporate jets may not seem like a big issue — because they aren’t, unless you happen to own one — Obama mentioned them maybe a half-dozen times in his news conference.
If you’re wondering why all the focus on corporate jets, it turns out that we, the taxpayers, subsidize these babies to the tune of $3 billion over 10 years. Meanwhile, the rest of us — meaning, you know, you and me — are flying in a middle seat, paying for our bags, not even getting peanuts, and granny, meanwhile, is having her adult diaper worked over by the guys and gals from TSA.
Are you outraged?
No? Well, I guess $3 billion isn’t what it used to be. In any case, you’re not supposed to be outraged, exactly, although Obama wouldn’t mind. He’d settle for amazed or disgusted — because while we’re giving tax breaks to corporate executives to buy those jets, we’re cutting programs that pay for things like weather satellites, scholarships for college students, food safety programs and, for all I know, stock show sites in Aurora.
Obama put this in pretty stark terms, basically saying that Republicans are ready to choose hedge fund managers — who can afford jets even with a tax hike — over the guy who pumps the gas into the hedge fund manager’s Gulfstream.
This is what Republicans call class warfare and what Democrats call Republicans taking the side of the rich.
What they’re really talking about, of course, is the coming debt ceiling vote, which brings with it the real threat of default and the prospect that we may all someday know the Chinese word for “deadbeat.”
Liberals have been complaining that Obama has allowed Republicans to set the terms in this debate. Obama must have heard them. Or maybe he now believes John Boehner when he says that revenue hikes (read: taxes) are off the table no … matter … what.
Obama, who hadn’t done a news conference in three months, was willing to break his streak in order to set new terms in the brinkmanship battle.
So far, he said, Democrats have agreed to something over $1 trillion in spending cuts while Republicans have agreed to something like zero dollars in tax hikes.
“If everybody else is willing to take on their sacred cows and do tough things to achieve the goal of real deficit reduction, then I think it would be hard for the Republicans to stand there and say the tax break for corporate jets is sufficiently important that we’re not willing to come to the table and get a deal done,” Obama said.
If you talk to economists — not that I necessarily recommend it — you’ll be hard-pressed to find one who believes we can grow our way out of the deficit or cut our way out of the deficit or tax our way out of the deficit or fly our corporate jets far enough to get away from the deficit. There has to be compromise.
The debt is at $14 trillion. The vote to raise the debt ceiling must come by Aug. 2. And with the July 4 recess upcoming, I wonder if those guys will have the nerve to come home.
As Obama put it, “They’re in one week, they’re out one week. And then they’re saying, ‘Obama has got to step in. You need to be here.’ I’ve been here. I’ve been doing Afghanistan and bin Laden and the Greek crisis. You stay here. Let’s get it done.”
He was referencing the talks that have been led by Joe Biden, until House Majority Leader Eric Cantor walked out on them. Obama was serious enough that he even resisted the opportunity to do a Biden joke.
For Obama, this is rough stuff. Occasionally, you see him get snide, and it usually gets him into trouble. And before you know it, there’s a White House beer summit. I’m sure Republican leaders are upset by Obama’s assertion that they’re not actually leading. But I doubt if he minds.
Between shots at Republicans — and dodging questions about whether he now fully supports gay marriage — Obama said we can cut the deficit while still funding programs that will help create jobs. Remember jobs?
He also put in a pitch to extend payroll tax cuts for another year and to give new small-business owners a break on capital gains taxes — just so long as when they’re out there flying the friendly skies, they’re flying commercial.
E-mail Mike Littwin at mlittwin@denverpost.com.
