Obama: Reagan could not survive in 'radical' GOP
By BEN FELLER | Associated Press â Tue, Apr 3, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) â In combative campaign form, President Barack Obama accused Republican leaders on Tuesday of becoming so radical and dangerously rigid that even the late Ronald Reagan, one of their most cherished heroes, could not win a GOP primary if he were running today.
The president depicted the election as a choice between a Democratic candidate who wants to use government to help people succeed and Republicans who would abandon a basic compact with society and let most people struggle at the expense of the rich.
He framed his address around a new House Republican budget plan, saying it represents a bleak, backward "radical vision."
"It is thinly veiled social Darwinism," Obama said to the annual meeting of The Associated Press. "It is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everybody who's willing to work for it ... It is a prescription for decline."
"Ronald Reagan, who, as I recall, is not accused of being a tax-and-spend socialist, understood repeatedly that when the deficit started to get out of control â that for him to make a deal â he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases," Obama said. "He could not get through a Republican primary today."
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-reagan-could-not-survive-radical-gop-212525239.html
By BEN FELLER | Associated Press â Tue, Apr 3, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) â In combative campaign form, President Barack Obama accused Republican leaders on Tuesday of becoming so radical and dangerously rigid that even the late Ronald Reagan, one of their most cherished heroes, could not win a GOP primary if he were running today.
The president depicted the election as a choice between a Democratic candidate who wants to use government to help people succeed and Republicans who would abandon a basic compact with society and let most people struggle at the expense of the rich.
He framed his address around a new House Republican budget plan, saying it represents a bleak, backward "radical vision."
"It is thinly veiled social Darwinism," Obama said to the annual meeting of The Associated Press. "It is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everybody who's willing to work for it ... It is a prescription for decline."
"Ronald Reagan, who, as I recall, is not accused of being a tax-and-spend socialist, understood repeatedly that when the deficit started to get out of control â that for him to make a deal â he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases," Obama said. "He could not get through a Republican primary today."
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-reagan-could-not-survive-radical-gop-212525239.html
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