Question Time With The Dems

President Obama has taken Question Time on the road, this time facing off against Senate Dems.  It was somewhat less contentious, but the session was nevertheless enlightening.  Blanche Lincoln wanted to know about jobs, and President Obama sounded like a Republican in his response:

Blanche Lincoln, another endangered senator, asks what Democrats can tell people to assure them that they are working to stabilize the economy. Part of the answer, Obama says, is to remind them: "Part of what we've done over the course of the year is put a floor under people's feet. That's what the Recovery Act did."

He cautions that Republicans will say returning to "what we've been doing before the crisis," citing giving tax cuts to the rich, and stalling health care reform and Wall Street reform, will ease the pain of the recession. But the Democrats' strategy, he says, should be a "non-ideological" approach.

"We've got to make sure that our party understands that, like it or not, we have to have a financial system that's healthy and functioning, so we can't be demonizing every bank out there," he says. "We've got to be the party of business -- small business and large business -- because they produce jobs."

The problem is that voters do see the Democrats as the party of business...the party of giving the voter the business and preferring corporate America to Main Street.   What happened to to Volcker Rules?  You're not demonizing banks at all, in fact you're letting them walk away with hundreds of billions of our money.  Geez.
(More after the jump...)
It was even worse when Evan F'ckin Bayh complained about the deficit.

Evan Bayh of Indiana, getting the last question, asks about the national debt but notes, as Obama has, that the previous administration left him with a $1.3 trillion deficit. Obama, in turn, thanks former President Clinton for his policies that ended with a $200 billion surplus.

"Last time the budget was balanced was under a Democratic president who made some very tough decisions," Obama says.

He says "we have been complicit," citing hefty price tags for two wars, a prescription drug bill, and tax cuts that weren't paid for.

Saying the government has to cut where it can and be prudent, Obama says "every dollar counts."

"The way to regain trust is to pursue good policies and not be afraid to explain these policies," Obama says, reiterating his support for Paygo and a non-security descretionary spending freeze. "If I take all the steps I put forward and Congress follows my lead ... we still got this structural deficit that we've inherited."

Yes, inherited is the key there...but Bayh pressed on.

Rebutting again Republican criticism that the government should cut the deficit more, Obama says the only way to truly balance the budget without touching entitlement programs would be cut student loans, veterans programs and many others. "That's just not going to happen," he says.

He promises that for his administration, he "will have covered what happened on my watch." And on earmarks, Obama says "it makes people feel like we're not showing the same kind of discipline that they are."

People aren't worried about the deficit.  They're worried about losing their home, not being able to send kids to college, and being stuck in a crappy job where their company has taken benefit after benefit away while the top brass make millions...oh yeah, and health care.

Try fixing that, instead.  New tag:  Question Time.