By Jueseppi B.

David Gregory’s exclusive Meet The Press interview with President Obama on the fiscal cliff talks and the president’s priorities for his second term.

President Barack Obama – Exclusive interview on NBC’s Meet the Press. Dec 30,2013

Published on Dec 30, 2012 President Barack Obama- exclusive interview

on NBC’s “Meet the Press- Dec 30,2013

President Obama turned up on NBC’s “Meet the Press” for the first time since the passage of ObamaCare, and gave exactly the performance that every veteran Obama-watcher would have expected: A no nonsense explanation on the “fiscal cliff” drama.  “I’m not driven by some ideological agenda – I’m a pretty practical guy,” he explicitly stated, offering his past four years in office as evidence.

President Obama Blames GOP For Fiscal Cliff On ‘Meet The Press’

By SAHIL KAPUR DECEMBER 30, 2012 for Talking Points Memo

Sahil Kapur is a congressional reporter for TPM. He previously covered politics and public policy for numerous publications including The Guardian and The Huffington Post. He can be reached at sahil [at] talkingpointsmemo.com.

President Obama appeared on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday to ratchet up the pressure on Congress to act to avoid the fiscal cliff — and repeatedly blamed Republicans for the impending crisis in the event of failure.

“So far, at least, Congress has not been able to get this stuff done,” Obama said. “Not because Democrats in Congress don’t want to go ahead and cooperate, but because I think it’s been very hard for Speaker Boehner and Republican Leader McConnell to accept the fact that taxes on the wealthiest Americans should go up a little bit as part of an overall deficit reduction package.”

Although congressional leaders say discussions are ongoing, the prospects for a deal have diminished since Friday afternoon when Obama issued his ultimatum to Republicans. He again dared them to filibuster his middle class tax cut in the new Congress come Jan. 4 if they fail to reach a deal by then.

“At a certain point, if folks can’t say yes to good offers, then I also have an obligation to the American people to make sure that the entire burden of deficit reduction doesn’t fall on seniors who are relying on Medicare,” Obama said. “There is a basic fairness that is at stake in this whole thing. And they listened to an entire year’s debate about it. They made a clear decision about the approach they prefer.”

“It is very important for Republicans in Congress to be willing to say, ‘we understand we are not going to get 100 percent. We are willing to compromise in a serious way to solve problems as opposed to being worried about the next election.’ … The offers I have made are so fair that a lot of Democrats get mad at me,” he said, naming the entitlement cuts he has proposed, including Medicare cuts and Social Security cuts via “Chained CPI.”

Read this entire article at Talking Points Memo.

Just In Case You Missed This:

Weekly Address: Congress Must Protect the Middle Class from Income Tax Hike

President Obama urges Congress to meet its deadlines and responsibilities, protect the middle class from an income tax hike, and lay the groundwork for future progress on more economic growth and deficit reduction.

The Year in Review: Joining Forces to Hire American Heroes

By Colleen Curtis  December 30, 2012  The White House Blog

In August of 2011, President Obama challenged the private sector to hire or train 100,000 veterans and military spouses by the end of 2013. In August of this year, First Lady Michelle Obama visited Mayport Naval Station in Florida to announce that 2,000 American companies had stepped up to the challenge, and had already exceeded that goal, hiring 125,000 veterans and military spouses more than a year ahead of schedule.

In addition, those companies doubled down on their commitment to our troops and military families and made a new promise, a pledge to hire or train an additional 250,000 of our nation’s heroes, including 50,000 military spouses.

Make no mistake about it, you all have the talent, you’ve got the training and the experience to lead America’s economic comeback, and America’s businesses understand that. And that’s why they’ve stepped up so readily to answer this call.  That’s why they’re hiring folks like all of you every day all across this country.

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