Think we're stupid?

President Obama did his best Clint Eastwood “make my day” impression in private budget talks with Republicans last week. What he didn’t know was that his comments were accidentally piped into the White House, where reporters were recording them. (Read about it here.)
No matter; the president wasn’t embarrassed by the audio. He was reacting to Republican efforts to get a concession that would repeal part of his health-care law.

According to Reuters, Obama said he told Republicans: “You want to repeal healthcare? Go at it. We’ll have that debate. You’re not going to be able to do that by nickel-and-diming me in the budget. You think we’re stupid?”
The real question is whether Obama, and a lot of Republicans, for that matter, think the American people are stupid.
Standard & Poors slapped a negative outlook on the United States’ long-term credit worthiness Monday, saying there is a one-in-three chance it will downgrade the nation’s AAA credit rating by 2013. That’s serious, and it comes because politicians in Washington can’t agree on ways to reduce yearly deficits and the national debt.
Frankly, the problem is worse than even House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan seems to realize. Unless the two sides can come to an agreement on a package of real, serious cuts and strategic tax increases, the nation, and the dollar, could lose its leadership position in the global economy.
Tax day was Monday. Americans enjoy some of the lowest overall tax rates in the industrial world, as the chart with this New Republic report shows. But those taxes represent only a portion of what we each owe.
This isn’t the time for tough talk and political posturing. It’s time for hard work. Besides, I don’t remember Clinton Eastwood starring in “Dumb and Dumber.”