President Obama slammed the Republican “Pledge to America” that was unveiled last month as a plan that would increase the national debt by extending the Bush-era tax cuts to all earners. In an address to Philadelphians at his “Moving America Forward” rally yesterday, Obama condemned the Pledge as an unoriginal document, characterizing it as a return to “failed” economic policies of the previous administration.

The president ignored one of the Pledge’s central points, which involves capping government spending at pre-bailout 2008 levels, representing a 10 percent slimming down of federal spending as part of a plan to return to a balanced budget.