Early Reviews of Obama's Budget Speech: More Empty Rhetoric

Those who have gotten a hand on the early drafts of Obama's speech are pretty unanaimous in their reviews. It sucks, and so does he.

Via Ricochet, we get the view from the Right....The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes:

Reading previews of POTUS speech tmrw, seems that he is not offering a plan so much as trying to get reporters to say he's offering a plan.

...and from the left, as in the Washington Post:

President Obama plans this week to respond to a Republican blueprint for tackling the soaring national debt by promoting a bipartisan approach pioneered by an independent presidential commission rather than introducing his own detailed plan.

Obama will not blaze a fresh path when he delivers a much-anticipated speech Wednesday afternoon at George Washington University....Obama will frame the approach as a responsible alternative to the 2012 plan unveiled last week by House Republicans, according to people briefed by the White House.

Letting others take the lead on complex problems has become a hallmark of the Obama presidency...

Democrats briefed on Obama’s speech said its purpose is to seize the initiative from Republicans as Washington turns from a bitter but narrow debate over spending cuts in this year’s budget to the broader matter of how to reduce the size of the government in coming years.

While Carney promised that the speech would offer explicit targets for reducing deficits over the long term, people briefed by the White House said they expect Obama to lay out a general approach with few details...

So no fresh ideas. No details. Just the usual straw man blame game, where he'll try to pretend he is above the fray while making every effort to label the honest efforts of Republicans to do something, anything, as "extreme" and "radical". And when he endorses the "commission's" budget plan - which he has studiously ignored since it's release - will he mention the massive tax hikes ($1 trillion-plus) included within? And will the media? Please....

Charles Krauthammer nails it:

[Obama] is now leading from the rear. He is catching up. And he is going to give a speech. But unless it has got details in it, it will not be worth the air he inhales in giving it...

Nor my time in watching it. If I want to watch good-for-nothings pound themselves on the chest and declare themselves as gods amongst men, I'll watch some rap videos....