Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel pushed back Sunday against suggestions that President Obama would pay a price if the congressional supercommittee fails in its mission to cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion.
Obama's former chief of staff told ABC's This Week that the panel was created by Congress and the president ensured that it had a fallback trigger guaranteeing at least $1.2 trillion in cuts. Furthermore, he said, Obama has been involved and has offered his own deficit-reduction proposal.
"He's offered a plan, and what they've offered is an ideology," Emanuel said. "He's offered a grand bargain, and they refused a bargain."
The president's $4 trillion proposal included $1.5 trillion in tax increases from ending the Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy Americans and other measures. It went nowhere with Republicans on the 12-member panel.
Emanuel also laid out a plan for beating GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, leads Obama 51 percent to 47 percent in a recent poll.
First, Emanuel said, Democrats should remind voters of the economic situation Obama inherited three years ago and what's been accomplished since. Then, they should draw attention to what he called the "guideposts" - the leadership, judgment and values - that animate the two candidates.
"As the campaign continues" Emanuel said, "more and more people will see who (Romney) is willing to stand for and who he turns a blind eye towards - and that's the middle class."
