Just a few hours ago, President Obama finished his partisan tirade speech about his plan to fix the deficit. It was all-too-predictable that he would speak in vague generalities and avoid having the guts to come out and endorse specific cuts to entitlements.

Instead, he hid behind his deficit commission. As a candidate Obama had a clear view on commissions:

"We don't need a commission to tell us how we got into this mess, we need a President who will lead us out of this mess – and that's the kind of President I intend to be."

As President, he apparently has not turned out as he intended to be:

"It’s an approach that borrows from the recommendations of the bipartisan Fiscal Commission I appointed last year…And we will slow the growth of Medicare costs by strengthening an independent commission of doctors, nurses, medical experts and consumers who will look at all the evidence and recommend the best ways to reduce unnecessary spending while protecting access to the services seniors need."

Commission flip-flop? Just more of the same from the Dear Leader who promised us that the seas would stop rising and the earth would begin to heal when he was President. Obama is a big fan of rhetoric, particularly his own, but not so much a practicer of the practicalities of getting legislation passed. 

Getting bills passed is tough business, requiring you to roll-up your sleeves and make tough decisions that often give folks on both the right and left something to complaint about. That's what the American people expect of a President.

Obama sees his role a little differently, preferring partisan posturing and vague promises of reform, attacking Rep. Paul Ryan's plan saying:

"These aren’t the kinds of cuts you make when you’re trying to get rid of some waste or find extra savings in the budget. These aren’t the kind of cuts that the fiscal commission proposed. These are the kinds of cuts that tell us we can’t afford the America that I believe in and, I think, you believe in.”

Cutting the deficit by finding "some waste or…extra savings"?!?! Last we checked you can't find $4 trillion lying around in an un-used government checking account, or under some corrupt officials' mattress.

While he had specific numbers and programs to talk about on Rep. Ryan's proposal, because Ryan had the guts and leadership to release a plan with specifics, Obama was not so forthcoming himself.

From the Washington Post:

Even as he savaged the GOP proposal, Obama was less than specific about his own. He did not say exactly how he would reform how corporations are taxed, what he would do to achieve a simpler tax system or which defense programs he would cut. On Social Security, he not only didn’t announce a proposal but would not say whether one was likely to be included in the final legislation.

Obama may live in la-la land where he can spend other people's money until his heart is content, but most of us live in reality, where budgets have limits and bills come due. 

We believe that Obama is not only wrong, but out of step with the vast majority of the American people who believe in a country we can afford, and not the other way around. 

If anything, we're glad Obama gave this speech. It lays out his lack of a coherent vision for solving this country's financial crisis for all to see. 

The Emperor has no clothes.