Obama eye-rolls GOP “pledge”

President Obama in his weekly radio address gave a big yawn of dismissal to the Republican-led “Pledge to America,” saying it’s the same tired ideas that “led to the economic crisis in the first place.”

It is grounded in same worn out philosophy: cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires; cut the rules for Wall Street and the special interests; and cut the middle class loose to fend for itself.  That’s not a prescription for a better future.  It’s an echo of a disastrous decade we can’t afford to relive.

Republicans have achieved some traction by claiming Obama’s plan to roll back Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans is a tax increase.

The White House is countering that by saying Republicans want to “borrow” the $700 billion that rolling back those taxes would add to the Treasury, and give it away to “millionaires and billionaires.”

Republicans want this election to be a referendum on Democratic leaders — and especially Obama. The Democrats are trying to frame the election as a choice between two philosophies.

Obama recently was asked at a town hall meeting on CNBC whether he would debate House Republican Leader John Boehner. Although the president stopped short of laughing outright, don’t look for that debate any time soon.

Boehner is a party leader, but he is just a House member, and debating him would be tantamount to the White House saying the two were equal. They’re not about to give Boehner any consequence.

But — Obama did name-check the Ohio lawmaker in his weekly address.

The Republicans in Washington claimed to draw their ideas from a website called “America Speaking Out.” It turns out that one of the ideas that’s drawn the most interest on their website is ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.

Funny thing is, when we recently closed one of the most egregious loopholes for companies creating jobs overseas, Republicans in Congress were almost unanimously opposed. The Republican leader John Boehner attacked us for it, and stood up for outsourcing, instead of American workers.