De potentiële Republikeinse presidentskandidaten waren er afgelopen week snel bij om te reageren op de toespraak van Obama over de begroting, bezuinigingen en vooral het terugdringen van de enorme staatsschuld. De reacties waren, zoals men kan verwachten, niet positief.

De voormalige gouverneur van Massachusetts, Mitt Romney zei: “President Obama’s proposals are too little, too late. Instead of supporting spending cuts that lead to real deficit reduction and true reform of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the President dug deep into his liberal playbook for ‘solutions’ highlighted by higher taxes. With over 20 million people who are unemployed or who have stopped looking for work, the last thing we should be doing is raising taxes on job-creators, entrepreneurs, and small business owners across America.”

Voormalig gouverneur van Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty zei: “Today’s speech was nothing more than window dressing. President Obama’s lack of seriousness on deficit reduction is crystal clear when you look at the budget deal he insisted on to avoid a government shutdown. The more we learn about the budget deal the worse it looks. When you consider that the federal deficit in February alone was over $222 billion, to have actual cuts less than the $38 billion originally advertised is just not serious. The fact that billions of dollars advertised as cuts were not scheduled to be spent in any case makes this budget wholly unacceptable. It’s no surprise that President Obama and Senator Reid forced this budget, but it should be rejected. America deserves better.”

De gouverneur van Mississippi, Haley Barbour zei: “President Obama doesn’t get it: The fear of higher taxes tomorrow hurts job creation today.”

“President Obama’s speech today shows he has learned nothing about how to win the future. He continues to operate with a left wing worldview that will hurt seniors, kill jobs, raise gas prices, and increase our crushing debt. America needs an honest conversation about saving Medicaid and Medicare by providing citizens with more choices, better care, and more control at lower costs; not emotional demagoguery designed to create a climate of fear and inaction. America needs tax cuts not tax increases to create jobs. Creating jobs and getting back to 4% unemployment is the most important step to a balanced budget. The president’s proposal to raise taxes will kill jobs and increase the deficit by putting more people on unemployment, food stamps and welfare. America needs an American Energy Plan that makes full use of all our resources here at home – oil, natural gas, wind, clean coal, nuclear, biofuels, and more”, aldus de voormalige voorzitter van het Huis van Afgevaardigden, Newt Gingrich. Lees meer hier.