Jake Tapper of ABC–quickly becoming the toughest questioner in the White House press pool–pointed out that Obama managed to get Rep. Henry Waxman to remove $200 million in the bill set aside for family-planning services; he asked White House press secretary Robert Gibbs why the president can’t do it for other porky items, like the funds set aside for “smoking cessation” efforts. (Some portion of $500 million, by my reading.)
“Let’s focus on the larger picture” is Gibbs’ mantra. “If we get focused on this number and that number, and two-one-hundreths of one percent of the spending . . . while we’re discussing this, in the past forty-eight [hours], 70,000 people have gotten a pink slip.”
Tapper: “Why not take the money marked for ’smoking cessation’ and give it to people who are out of work?”
Gibbs: “The vast majority of this bill does that . . . We can’t afford to wait. We have to act.”