memeorandum: Obama risks losing liberals with talk of cutting budget (Washington Post)

9:50 AM ET, April 13, 2011

Top Items:

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Left's angst grows over Obama's shift to the political center — Anxiety over President Obama's shift to the political center is threatening to alienate the White House's liberal base. — As Obama prepares Wednesday to outline his deficit reduction strategy, liberals worry he'll embrace Medicare …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, msnbc.com, Prairie Weather and JammieWearingFool

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Progressive Group To Supporters: Withhold Donations To Obama If He Cuts Medicare, Medicaid … WASHINGTON — One of the thorniest progressive groups in the side of the Obama administration is launching a new campaign against the president on Tuesday, this time targeting the president's vaunted grassroots donor base.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Politico

Washington Post:

Obama risks losing liberals with talk of cutting budget — Alex Wong/ GETTY IMAGES - President Obama's speech Wednesday on how to rein in the nation's debt will be the first in a series of steps he will take in coming weeks to promote fiscal discipline, not just a one-time nod toward cutting spending, the White House said Tuesday.

Discussion: Firedoglake, AMERICAblog News and Wonkette

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Americans Back Budget Deal but Declare No Winner — Split on whether next year's budget should further cut domestic spending — PRINCETON, NJ — Six in 10 Americans approve of the 11th-hour federal budget agreement that congressional leaders reached in time to avert a government shutdown.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Hot Air

Susan Page / USA Today:
Poll: Budget deal wins support, but Americans wary

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Taegan Goddard's … and The Daily Caller

The Hill:
Rand Paul says he's considering filibuster of budget agreement

Discussion: Reuters, Cubachi, The Politico, The Note, Left Coast Rebel, Hot Air, Zandar Versus The Stupid and A plain blog about politics

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

Do-Nothing Congress as a Cure — A trick question: If Congress takes no action in coming years, what will happen to the budget deficit? — It will shrink — and shrink a lot. This simple fact may offer the best hope for deficit reduction. — As federal law currently stands …

Discussion: Prairie Weather, Associated Press, Washington Post and Eschaton

Wall Street Journal:

Deficit Speech Will Be Lightning Rod — Lawmakers in Both Parties Are Likely to Fault Obama's Approach Wednesday to Long-Term Cutbacks — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will describe his plans for long-term deficit reduction Wednesday, in a move likely to kick off a months-long debate …

Discussion: Pirate's Cove

Robert Borosage / The Politico:
President Obama doesn't need to be an accountant in chief

Discussion: CNN

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:

Lobbyists Won Key Concessions in Budget Deal — WASHINGTON — At a quarter till midnight last Friday, with a deal to avert a government shutdown barely an hour old, Senator Harry Reid phoned a fellow Democratic senator, Ron Wyden, at home and startled him with some bad news.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Note, ThinkProgress and No More Mister Nice Blog

Tim Fernholz / NationalJournal.com:
Budget Cutting Ain't Easy

Discussion: Cubachi, Pundit & Pundette, OpenMarket.org, Weasel Zippers, Liberty Pundits Blog, Doug Ross, Firedoglake, Fox News, Washington Post, The Atlantic Online and Washington Monthly

Kasie Hunt / The Politico:

Mitt Romney to birthers: Barack Obama was born here. Period. — Mitt Romney forcefully said Tuesday night that he believes President Barack Obama was born in America and that “the citizenship test has been passed.” — “I think the citizenship test has been passed.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Washington Post, The Reaction, The Atlantic Online and CNN

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:
Quotes: Michele Bachmann in her own words on marriage, judges, a stolen election

Discussion: ACS Blog and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Michele Bachmann Calls For Stripping Judges' Power To Enforce Parts Of The Constitution She Doesn't Like

Discussion: Wonk Room and Sky Dancing

Justin Bieber / Haaretz:

Netanyahu cancels Bieber date over refusal to meet kids affected by Gaza rockets — PM was scheduled to host pop star at his Jerusalem office; taking advantage of the PR situation, Netanyahu's advisers invited group of kids from communities near Gaza border to attend.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Israel Matzav and Religion Dispatches

Isabel Kershner / New York Times:
Diplomatic Breakdown Amid Bieber Fever in Israel

Discussion: Global Public Square

Dave Itzkoff / New York Times:

Ex-Governor Apologizes for Using Song in Ad — Some days Charlie Crist is an ally of rock stars, and some days he is their adversary. — On Monday, Mr. Crist, the former governor of Florida who, before he left office, helped champion a posthumous pardon for Jim Morrison, the front man of the Doors …

Discussion: Hotline On Call, Hot Air, Rolling Stone and Balkinization

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:

Tea Party group warns GOP members: Shape up or face primaries — One of the nation's largest Tea Party groups is warning congressional Republicans to watch their right flanks ahead of a final vote this week on the long-term budget deal that averted a government shutdown.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Annie Lowrey / Slate:

How Congress can balance the budget in eight years by literally doing nothing. This is not a joke. — The Simpson-Bowles blue-ribbon deficit commission longs to slash Social Security and defense spending. The Bipartisan Policy Center's Alice Rivlin and Peter Domenici yearn for a value-added tax.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Capital Gains and Games blogs and The New Republic

Matt Taibbi / Rolling Stone:

The Real Housewives of Wall Street — Why is the Federal Reserve forking over $220 million in bailout money to the wives of two Morgan Stanley bigwigs? — By — America has two national budgets, one official, one unofficial. The official budget is public record and hotly debated …

Discussion: Zandar Versus The Stupid and The Moderate Voice

Igor Volsky / Wonk Room:

ThinkProgress Leaves Bachmann Speechless: Doesn't ‘Have An Answer’ On Whether Homosexuality Is A Public Health Hazard — Yesterday, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) — who is seriously considering launching a campaign for the presidency — appeared before the FAMiLY Leader, an anti-gay social conservative group in Iowa.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Towleroad News #gay, Pam's House Blend and Good As You

Steven Edwards / canada.com:

UN document would give ‘Mother Earth’ same rights as humans — PHOTOS ( 1 ) — Bolivia is planning to table a draft United Nations treaty giving “Mother Earth” the same rights as humans. — UNITED NATIONS — Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving “Mother Earth” …

Discussion: The Impolitic, Right Wing News, Pajamas Media, Weasel Zippers, Scared Monkeys, Don Surber, The Lonely Conservative and The TrogloPundit

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / Wall Street Journal:

Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Drink — Republicans can make up for a Reagan-era error by returning this issue to the states. — 'If you get shot at, you can have a shot. " That's the rationale behind Alaska State Representative—and Vietnam veteran—Bob Lynn's effort to establish …

Discussion: Pajamas Media and The Volokh Conspiracy

John Melloy / Fast Money:

Inflation Actually Near 10% Using Older Measure — After former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was appointed in 1979, the consumer price index surged into the double digits, causing the now revered Fed Chief to double the benchmark interest rate in order to break the back of inflation.

Discussion: Doug Ross

Agence France Presse:

US deficit up 15.7% in first half of fiscal 2011 — WASHINGTON — The US budget deficit shot up 15.7 percent in the first six months of fiscal 2011, the Treasury Department said Wednesday as political knives were being sharpened for a new budget battle. — The Treasury reported a deficit …

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin, Questions and Observations, The Gateway Pundit and NewsBusters.org

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

Pawlenty: 'I'm running for president' — (CNN) - Former Republican Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty told CNN's Piers Morgan Tuesday he's focused on running for the White House. — “I'm running for president,” Pawlenty said in an interview Tuesday on “Piers Morgan Tonight.”

Discussion: Associated Press, Derek Wallbank, Gawker and InvestmentWatch

Piers Morgan:
Tim Pawlenty says “I'm running for President” and comments on Trump as possible opponent

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Huffington Post and No More Mister Nice Blog

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

Wisconsin previews 2012 chaos — Here we go again. — Wisconsin's contested Supreme Court race has set in motion a drama that's by now almost painfully familiar. It goes something like this: A hard-fought election comes down to a few troublesome precincts.

Leland Vittert / Fox News:

Hamas' Powerful New Weapon Alters Strategic Calculations Along the Gaza Strip — April 7: A wounded Israeli is treated by medics at the site where an Israeli school bus was hit by a mortar shell fired from the Gaza Strip near the border between southern Israel and Gaza Wednesday.

Discussion: American Power

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:

Why Obama was forced to give today's deficit speech — If President Obama is in political trouble, just wait a minute. He'll give a speech. He thinks speech-making is his best skill and clearly prefers campaigning over presidenting at a desk. — Oh, look! Obama's giving another speech this afternoon.