President Obama finally came in front of a camera to address the American people about his budget. Or so we all thought. What we got was a campaign speech to kick-off his 2012 run for re-election. There were no specific plans to add to or counter the Ryan proposed 2012 budget. What there was were talking points, class warfare, age warfare, scaring seniors,  and scaring families with disabled children.

Once again, the President missed an opportunity to lead. Instead, his teleprompter was in campaign mode.

Headline reads “Obama: Cut spending, raise taxes on the wealthy.”

“We have to live within our means, reduce our deficit and get back on a path that will allow us to pay down our debt.”  That was after he passed an $800 billion stimulus package that was only designed to stimulate government jobs and save union jobs. And after he and congress rammed the un-Affordable Health Care Act down America’s collective throat. And after the national debt quadrupled to over $14 trillion dollars, unemployment jumped way over his promised 8%, and housing foreclosures are still going strong. It crossed my mind that he was rehearsing for a Saturday Night Live skit with his ‘we have to live within our means’ line.

Obama also wants to raise taxes by allowing Bush-era tax rates to expire for individuals making $200,000 or more a year and couples making $250,000 or more.

That was after, in December 2010, he said that increasing taxes would be counter productive to economic recovery. That was four months ago.

President Obama was all about ignoring the advice of the special debt commission. And saying about the Ryan plan that they (Republicans) want to “end Medicare as we know it,” he said, and to extend tax cuts for the wealthy while demanding 33 million seniors pay more for health care.

If we don’t ‘end Medicare as we know it,’ it will bankrupt the country all by itself. The same as Social Security will do all by itself if that is not overhauled to some sustainable level too. And when that happens, the only seniors that will have medical insurance or medical care will be the ones that can pay for it themselves. But that’s his story and he’s sticking to it. Not leading, but campaigning.

On the Ryan plan to reform Medicare, Obama vowed “That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I am president.”

What are the American people supposed to take from a comment like that? Sounds to me like he is committed to failure. Committed to his base instead of the health and welfare of the American people.