Obama appeals to middle class on debt talks - 2011-07-18 6:38 AM
By the CNN Wire Staff
July 16, 2011
(CNN) -- Evoking compromises of the past, President Barack Obama said Saturday that a commitment to shared sacrifice can break the current impasse on the debt ceiling.
"Let's be honest. Neither party in this town is blameless," he said in his weekly address. "Both have talked this problem to death without doing enough about it. That's what drives people nuts about Washington."
The president spoke as internal discussions continued at the White House. These came a day after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Chief of Staff Bill Daley, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Minority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, met, said a Democratic source familiar with the debt negotiations and a Republican aide.
Obama used his address to reach out to the middle class, reiterating his call for higher taxes on the wealthy and reforms to politically popular entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. He cited budget deals forged by President Ronald Reagan and Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill as well as President Bill Clinton and Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich, crediting them with making sacrifices that benefited the common good.
"We are all part of the same country. We are all in this together," Obama said.
