How can Obama say in one breath that he “truly believe[s]” that “Republicans want to do the right thing,” and in another that Republicans want to make seniors pay more than $6,000 in lost medical benefits in order to “pay” for tax breaks for the rich?

He can use all the flowery rhetoric he likes to describe the America he believes in, but the fact is he believes that Republicans are morally bankrupt. He has no interest in taking on the difficult issue of stopping the flow of red ink. He’s clearly done some polling that shows his only hope of reelection is to turn around independents and older voters by making them believe that rich Republicans want to rob them. It has worked well for Democrats in the past, and he’s betting it will again.