Obama vs. Boehner

James Pethokoukis  "All very confusing, but the best I can make of it is this: higher taxes now in exchange for a promise of tax cuts later to be “paid for” by reducing tax breaks/deductions/loopholes with perhaps some of that money going toward deficit reduction.
"I can tell you this: Democrats need a lot more tax revenue to make their long-term budget plans works. This is why Obama has not offered a long-term budget plan. The need for massive tax increases would then be clear to all. In private, liberal economists all talk about a need for a value-added tax to raise the additional revenue."

Here the NY Times rips the Republicans:   "The president may have a nebulous approach to unemployment, but he is hardly indifferent to it. His re-election hinges on reducing it. It is hard to understand, though, why Mr. Obama has adopted the language of his opponents in connecting the economy to the debt. To his credit, he talked about the one step that would work — investing* money in rebuilding the country. But the debt-ceiling ideas he is now considering would make that investment much less likely by pulling hundreds of billions of dollars out of the economy at precisely the moment when the spending is needed most."

* Jesse Ventura once said when politicians used the word "investments", you better hang on to your wallet. Hat tip to Hot Air for these sources.

Boehner says debt talks scaled back over tax rift  ""Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt-reduction agreement without tax hikes," Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives and the top Republican in Congress, said in a statement."
"I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure."

http://www.worldmag.com/editorialcartoons/

Obama’s deficit reduction Charades – “sounds like” more taxes  "Obama, the single most fiscally irresponsible president in modern history, is positioning himself as the only one who is serious about the debt.
"While I can see the argument that Boehner had to play Obama’s game of Charades, Boehner had no choice but to hold the line on taxes. Hopefully that line will hold during talks today, because what’s old is new: For Obama, the only thing deficit reduction sounds like is more taxes."