Sunday, September 2, 2012

Dems defend Obama on debt, say balancing budget now a bad idea

After a week of withering attacks on President Obama's fiscal record, top Democrats on Sunday defended the president's plans for shaving down the deficit -- but said balancing the budget now would actually be a bad idea. 

Senior adviser David Axelrod, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," repeated claims that Obama's plan would cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade, bringing  the budget shortfall down to a point that would "stabilize" the debt. 

"And then, with growth, we'll be in a position to begin reducing it further," he said. 

But, when pressed, Axelrod would not say when the president's plan could bring the budget into balance. With the deficit clocking in at over $1 trillion this year, he suggested that's not the goal in the near-term. 

"What's necessary is to stabilize the debt and then work from there," he said. "You can't balance the budget in the short term, because to do that would be to ratchet down the economy."