“There's nothing wrong with President Barack Obama speed-dating members of Congress. Meeting face to face over food and wine, as Obama has recently done with several groups of lawmakers from both parties, may ease the demonizing politics of the last four years. ...
But Obama should have no illusions about the core beliefs of some of his Republican dining partners or their willingness to accept change. That was made clear when the House Budget Committee chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan, unveiled his 2014 spending plan: a retread of ideas that voters soundly rejected. ...
All the tired ideas from 2011 and 2012 are back: eliminating Medicare's guarantee to retirees by turning it into a voucher plan; dispensing with Medicaid and food stamps by turning them into block grants; … repealing most of the reforms to healthcare and Wall Street; shrinking beyond recognition the federal role in education, job training, transportation and scientific and medical research. The public opinion of these callous proposals was made clear in the fall election, but Ryan is too ideologically fervid to have learned that lesson.”
—New York Times
