September 19, 2011 09:49 PM UTC

Obama Drops Compromise, Prepares to Fight on Budget and Jobs

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• by: Colorado Pols

Looks like somebody finally started reading the polls. Our friends at “The Fix” report on President Obama’s speech this morning rolling out his budget plan:

In a remarkable act of political gauntlet-throwing, President Obama castigated House Speaker John Boehner for his approach to reducing the country’s deficit, called on Members of Congress to do what’s “right” when it comes to debt reduction and issued a veto threat if a bill that does not meet his standards comes to his desk.

Obama’s speech, which was ostensibly aimed at previewing his deficit reduction plan, spent far more time – and rhetorical energy – on shaping the lines of the political fight to come. “This is not class warfare, it’s math,” Obama said in response to early Republican critiques of his proposal. At another point he said that GOP members should be “called out” for signing a pledge not to raise taxes ever.

But Obama saved his choicest words for Boehner. Obama said the Speaker had “walked away from a balanced package” during the debt-ceiling negotiations and added that Boehner’s approach to debt reduction was “not smart…it’s not right”…

…Obama has given over the idea of being the compromiser-in-chief – the prevailing sentiment of the first eight months of 2011 – in favor of taking the fight to Republicans and forcing them to respond in kind or feel the political consequences.