Link to video is here.

I haven't watched yet. But here are some reactions:

From Ezra Klein:

And a guy at Kos summarized the Q&A

In B4 racism derail

I lol'ed

I'm starting to think obama is delusional.

If you guys think that the GOP has been more fiscally responsible in the past 30 years, then it is not Obama who is delusional.

HuffPolitics

Booooooooo.............

That's not what I said. It's just amazing to me that either party still claims this, ESPECIALLY the Democratic party during the last 12 months.

Yeah, dems now control the executive branch and a large majority in both the house and the senate and spending is finally under control. LOLOLOLOLZ. The guy just submitted the biggest budget ever with HUGE decifits as far as the eye can see and he claims he is from the party of fiscal responsibility.

The comments you quoted are in response to what obama said, which is false BTW. The repubs had control of congress when clinton had a "balanced budget" which wasn't really balanced anyway, but the closest the country has been to balanced in a long time. So obama saying that the dem party did it without repub support is absurd and delusional.

Specter (PA): Lost jobs to China, remedies are ineffective, would you support more effective remedies by endorsing judicial remedies in US or international courts? Will you support efforts to revise bilateral treaties?

The spin

Obama: not in favor of revoking trade agreements. all for enforcement. trade must be reciprocal. approach is tougher enforcement, pressure to open markets in reciprocal basis, must address currency rates. do not want us to shy away from prospects of international competition, with a bigger focus on export promotion.

The reality

Labor is a lot cheaper in China.

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Bennet (CO): What are we gonna do differently to fix the institution of Congress?

The spin
Obama: A: Senate in particular, Republicans, if you wanna govern, then you can't just say no. Filibuster record causes institutional problem. Democrats do better with transparency, even if it takes longer. Health care as an example. Time made the bill better. But transparency got lost. And we paid the price.
Also, Turn off the TV, and go talk to folks on the street instead of being in an echo chamber. Americans don't care about process, they want us to deliver for them.

The reality
I don't have the political skill to lead a successful effort to reform something like health care.

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Blanche Lincoln: What can we tell people in terms of predictability about the economy? How can we push back against Republicans and people within our own Party to find common ground in process of bipartisanship?

The spin
Obama: people still feel uneasy. trends are positive, providing some stability, but it doesn't quell unease. moving forward, we cannot go back to doing what we were doing before the crisis, as Republicans continue to suggest. if the price of certainty is adopting Republican proposals for eight years (tax cuts, no health reform, no bank reform), the result will be the same. why would we expect a different outcome? people are hurting, are more vulnerable, and if our response is taking the easy way out and doing the same thing, then what makes us different than Republicans? Why would people want to elect us? Point is: we can't be ideological. We can't just go back to the New Deal and expect it to work in the 21st century. We need to find out what works, and do that. The things we were doing before don't.

The reality
Economics isn't my strong suit and I really have little use for the private sector or free markets.

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Gillibrand: health care for 9/11 responders, etc.
20,000 people sick or dead from exposure. Would you committ today to working with congress to pass comprehensive 9/11 health bill that's paid for?

The spin
Obama: Yes. and it's not talk. My budget includes increases in funding for it.

The reality
Jeez I want to spend $3.8 trillion, use your common sense there's got to be something for them in that budget.

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Boxer: What you're doing now, getting out there and fighting, is needed and desired by constituents. Thank you.
Small businesses: can you increase lending by Executive Order putting funds to work?

The spin
Obama: everywhere I go, small businesses say they experience credit crunch... even if making profits and paying on time. Two reasons they cite: 1) bankers tell them regulators are over their shoulder at every turn and 2) big banks aren't really in this market.
Meantime, better to do through legislative process than executive order. easily. banks repaid money. apply that money to community banks to provide greater lending. tax credits for hiring to speed up process.

The reality
M'am even I have to acknowledge that I don't rule by fiat.

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Pat Leahy: you've had many quality judicial appts that are being obstructed. leading to judicial crisis. will you continue putting names up quickly so we can fill these vacancies?

The spin
Obama: priority. and it's not just judges. it's other appointees. and they get obstructed, for entirely non-related issues. only to be confirmed overwhelmingly later. people supported by both Dems nd Repubs in the state. if government is gonna work for the people, then the appointment for GSA administrator shouldn't be obstructed for no reason. that must end. and the american people want it to end.

The reality
Our vetting has sucked.

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Sherrod Brown: cites OH school building with solar power, with technology created by germany and other countries. how do we rebuild manufacturing combined with energy policy that gets us to these jobs?

The spin
Obama: risk falling behind to Chinese (cites China's advantage in being able to move forward without obstruction, snicker). ron bloom, manufacturing task force, issuing report to me presently about a path forward. it's figuring out how to coordinate businesses, government, universities on the same page to compete with other nations. whoever figures out first clean energy is going to lead the new century, and that should be our goal. incentives. open-minded about ranges of technologies (clean coal, nuclear, etc.). make existing technology better. incentivize clean energy while discouraging old sources that won't work going forward. bipartisan work being done (lieberman, graham, kerry). and we can't give up and just give tax credits to companies. pricing needs to be addressed, so companies see it's more expensive to be dirtier.

The reality
How many times do I have to tell you guys that Chineese labor is much cheaper. I may not know jack about creating jobs in the private but even I know that.
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Final Question....

Evan Bayh: Why can't Washington sacrifice like the American people are? Do we have the backbone to make tough decisions? You did my freeze, and the lefty blogs kicked you? Why should we be trusted?

The spin
Obama: because the last time a budget was balanced, it was done by a Democrat... without republican support. we're the Party of fiscal responsiblity. though, we should admit our mistakes in going along with the previous unpaid for Republican policies (tax cuts, wars, medicare prescription). admit we may have lost trust. way to regain any lost trust is to persue better policies. explain to the american people that we can't get out of the hole overnight. but we should move toward paygo. look at the freeze on spending. including defense as well. every dollar counts. and over time saving piles up while creating good habits of spending smarter. because there is a structural deficit that needs to be addressed. called for commission to address long term problems. and i hope republicans will join along in that commission. explain clearly, act openly, speak honestly, i'm completely confident we'll thrive in the future.

The reality
Did you ever hear of the Republican revolution in 1994 when Repubs took both houses and earned a majority in the House for the first time in 40 years? Then there was this guy Clinton who was POTUS and worked with the Republicans to hammer out a budget. Also during Clinton's term medicare/medicaid spending increases as a percentage of GDP were lower than any POTUS in recent memory including me. Truth is I'm not half as accomplished at being the POTUS that Clinton was.

It's pretty clear that the Republican caucus does not hold a monopoly on ******ed questioners.

[QUOTE=pokerbobo;16583434The repubs had control of congress when clinton had a "balanced budget" which wasn't really balanced anyway, but the closest the country has been to balanced in a long time. So obama saying that the dem party did it without repub support is absurd and delusional.[/QUOTE]

If memory serves (a huge IF), I believe that Clinton's first budget, which included tax hikes, was passed in the Senate without a single Republican vote.

Omnibus bill of 1993

Yeah but we didn't start running "surplusses" until the late 1990s iirc. (Compared to where we are now) Clinton and the (R) Congress was a pretty good mix fiscally.

Almost all of the spending side reductions were peace dividend base closures, and they farmed that out to a commission so no one in elected office could be the bad guy.

BTW the parties arguing over which is more fiscally responsible feels a lot like the Hilton sisters arguing over who is more chaste.

Sorry but only one of the sisters tells everyone that chastity is the most important virtue and then ****s everything in sight.

A+

Hahahahahaha so the Dems are at least frank about their whore-ness (The President's "we're the party of fiscal responsibility" nonsense aside).

The surpluses don't happen without the tax hikes that the GOP universally opposed at the start of his administration.

Not agreeing or disagreeing one way or another, but Tech bubble economic growth helps revenues here a whole lot, plus the best in slower public sector growth that gridlock can buy.

More like the Dem's say yeah we're gonna be havin lots of sex, but we brought a box of Trojans so its cool (and man that sex is gonna be GOOOOD even though your partner wants it bareback and is making threats about going down the hall to see the Republicans who are holding a chastity meeting and have thus vowed never to wear a condom.)

This is kind of funny.

The link is to the Booman Tribune, a verfy liberal blog but one that often takes liberals to task.

Anyway, in this post he criticizes Lincoln and Bayh for asking stupid questions that do little more than act as vehicles to bash Obama and their own party.

Gillibrand is a lot better looking than I've given her credit for in the past imo.

Blanche Lincoln needs to take the DeLorean back to 1872.

Democrats and Republicans arguing over who's the party of fiscal responsibility is like two guys who've both been arrested for DUI dozens of times arguing about who's the more responsible driver.

Oh and the economic boom of the mid to late 90's had everything to do with the internet and nothing to do with anything the government was or was not doing.

But Al Gore INVENTED THE INTARWEBS

Not sure but I think this counts as a slow pony.