WATCHING THE OBAMA PRESS CONFERENCE, the Insta-Daughter notes “He never answered the question.” She was talking about the one on shared sacrifice, even after the followup.
UPDATE: Related: “Obama’s round-robin with Chuck Todd over the issue of sacrifice is actually pretty interesting. Maybe I missed something, but it sure sounded like Obama is simply unwilling to really call for sacrifice from the American people.” If Obama’s looking for ideas, here are some thoughts on shared sacrifice.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Dave Bosserman writes: “Hey, I gave up half my wealth over the last year. Isn’t that enough? Are any government employees going to give up half their retirement funds in the name of ‘shared sacrifice?'” Well, I don’t have a defined-benefit plan, and my 403(b) is way down.
MORE: Alternative programming: Don Rickles roasts Congress and Obama.
STILL MORE: Michael Graham liveblogged:
Talk about “change.” The first question is “why should we trust you?” Two months ago, any reporter who asked that question would have been stoned by the rest of the press corps. The only question allowed in January was “why doesn’t EVERYONE trust you?”
8:12: Obama says the bonuses were contracts “before we took over.” Wrong. Bogus. This was Geithner’s deal all the way, and Obama’s team knew all about them. The stimulus bill that approved and protected them was Obama’s.
More at the link.
MORE STILL: What about those “net spending cuts” he promised?
Plus, reader Mike McDaniel writes:
I hate to break it to Mr. Bosserman, but the Federal Government went to a 401k-like system (the Thirft Savings Plan) 25 years ago. We’re losing our shirts…I’m down 40% in the last six months.
Not to mention that as a Department of Defense employee, I work over 50 hours per week, half on either a night or evening shift. Weekends and holidays included.
If we could get the civil sector and the politicians they elect working that hard, we wouldn’t have this problem.
Yeah, the shift to the Thrift Savings Plan is saving the federal government’s neck right now, though it’s not so great if you’re a worker. Most states, though, aren’t so well situated. . . .
We’d be better off if the politicians kept it under 50 hours per year.
Plus: “What was the news? What was his message?”
EVEN MORE: Dan Riehl replies: “The narrative on Obama all along was always that, for all his seeming openess, he has never been one to actually let people in on what’s going on. While there is obviously strategy going on underneath, the purpose of all these press overtures isn’t to reveal and discuss it. It’s to keep people discussing Obama while it’s going on. Any event is the strategy in that sense.”