Boehner apparently not yet serious on budget talks

>>> after president obama was sworn into office in january 2009 , he decided that his first tv interview, his first tv interrue he would give as president from the white house would not be with nbc or cbs or absentee. it would instead be with the arabic news channel. it was a week after his inauguration.

>> my job to the muslim world is to communicate that americans are not your enemy. we have not been perfect. we can have disagreements but still be respectful. i did k not respect terrorist organizations. and we will hunt them down. but to the broader muslim world where we're going to be offering is a hand of friendship.

>> we're going to be a hand of friendship. president obama used his first tv interview as president to address what he viewed as job one of his new administration. mending our relationship with the the muslim world . after eight years of george bush being america's face to the muslim world . that was his first interview. today barack obama gave his first tv interview since being reelected as president. it was not with nbc or cbs or absentee. it was instead with bloomberg news. the president sat down with the financial news network bloomberg to talk about job one for his administration now. dealing with the issue that currently has a strangle hold on this nation's policymaking.

>> we have the potential of getting a deal done, but it's going to require what i talked about during the campaign, which is a balanced, responsible approach to deficit reduction that can help give businesses certainty and make sure that the country grows. and unfortunately, the speaker's proposal right now is still out of balance.

>> sometimes you hear a sound byte and it sounds like the normal talking points of the campaign that you always here, you're always hearing politicians saying the same thing. but listen again to that last thing that the president said there.

>> unfortunately the speaker's proposal right now is still out of balance.

>> speaker's proposal is out of balance. empirical statement, sort of. there's a way to judge whether or not that statement is true. what's happening in washington is both sides, republicans and democrats, are making offers and counteroffers about how to deal with the fiscal mess that they created. this artificial debt line that washington created. the white house made its offer to republicans last week. they sent timothy geithner up to capitol hill to unveil the administration's offer to congressional republicans . the offer was essentially a mix of tax hikes as well as spending cuts chrks the democrats are not crazy about. essentially, here are some things. republicans rejected that white house proposal out of hand. they said they were flabbergasted that was put forward as the president's idea of compromise. we have since learned what the republica republicans ' view of compromise is. as i mentioned last night, before the election john boehner proposed that revenues could be raised by this much. that's the pile of money there. after the election, which his party lost, he's now offering post-election this much new revenue. so his offer since losing the election got worse. that new offer came in a new outline of proposals that the republicans sent to the president in a letter yesterday. it's a plan that they describe in their letter as "a fair middle ground ." here's what they consider a fair middle ground . we did this in chart form today. because it turns out it's really simple. and looking at it this way makes it simple. here's what they are offering. on the side of what the republic republicans get, the republicans get the tax rates they want, the medicare cuts they want, the trillion dollars in spending cuts president obama agreed to, hundreds of billions in additional cuts, ending the payroll tax break, ending jobless benefits and they get the opportunity to create a new debt ceiling crisis in a few months. that's on the republican side , what the republicans get in their proposal. what do the democrats get in their proposal? they get this. a promise to end undefined tax deductions and loopholes of some kind at some point maybe next year e. ta da! a fair and balanced middle ground .

>> unfortunately, the speaker's proposal right now is still out of balance.

>> yes. balance. here's the amazing part, though. after congressional republicans released their plan yesterday, which gives them everything they want and promises democrats that they might get something undefined that they might want maybe some time in the future. we'll talk about it later. after they put forth that sweet deal, this was the reaction from the beltway's conservative class. this is genius. sad ly, this plan leaves conservatives wanting. wanting what exactly? the declaration that mitt romney is actually president? wanting what? a pony? there's a conservative guy who didn't get his pony. let's add the pony. how are you happy? still not happy? this is a game. republicans put forward an offer in which they get everything they want. democrats get nothing, even though democrats won the election. then the republicans have the people on their own side squawk and complain as if what's just happened is such a compromise. they must be giving so much to be upsetting their own side so much. it's total bull puck key. it's fine. everybody knows they are doing this. but if you have been following the back and forth in washington over this negotiation, do not let anyone convince you that this part of it is anything but horse hooey.