Uh Oh, President Obama to Address Nation Tonight at 9pm

This could potentially be very, very bad…

Tonight at 9 p.m. EDT President Obama will address the nation on the stalemate in Washington over avoiding default and the best approach to cutting deficits.

You can watch the speech live at www.WhiteHouse.gov/live starting at 9pm tonight.  The expectation among progressives is that President Obama will reiterate his frustration at Republican intransigence for his desire to dismantle the social safety net that millioins of Americans rely on.  To summarize:

Democrats asked Republicans to pass a clean bill, just as GOP leaders had supported many times in the past. Republicans said, “No.”Democrats invited Republicans to Biden-led bipartisan talks. Republicans quit. Democrats offered a $2.4 trillion debt-reduction package, 83% of which would come from spending cuts. Republicans said, “No.”Democrats sought a Grand Bargain, with more than $4 trillion in savings. Republicans said, “No.”Several Democrats offered some preliminary support for the “Gang of Six” blueprint. Republicans said, “No.”Many more Democrats signaled support for the McConnell/Reid “Plan B.” Republicans said, “No.”

Unfortunately, we can only rely on Republican intransigence to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for so long.  As I said before, it took a Democrat to “end welfare as we know it.”  And it’ll take this Democrat to gut the social safety net.  Will Obama offer yet another path that fully capitulates to Republican demands?  Will he abandon any and all revenue enhancements in the battle over the debt ceiling?  It has been a slow progression away from what would be desireable, what would be reasonable, to what is ridiculous.

From the Center for American Progress:

The infographic above shows that the president’s latest offer to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is heavily titled toward spending cuts. In fact, the president’s offer contained about $1 trillion less revenue than the recent proposal from the so-called Gang of Six, a group that includes three Republican senators and three Democratic senators. It also represents significant movement from the president’s original debt reduction framework, which itself was already more conservative than the recommendations from the chairs of the debt commission (Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson) last December.

I suppose we’ll see what happens at 9pm.  In the meantime, sign this petition asking our Congressional Delegation to stand strong against cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.