Obama is scheduled to take to the bully pulpit and address the nation tonight at 9pm.   Here is around up of related news from the day:
(LA Times) — President Obama backs the plan coming Monday from Senate Democrats to head off the debt crisis, even though it may not contain the “balanced” mix of spending cuts and tax revenues for which he has been pressing.
Obama plans to address the nation at 9 p.m. Monday to talk about the stalemate and is expected to discuss the contending plans arising in Congress and the need to act on one of them.
A statement from Obama’s press secretary Monday afternoon voiced support for the plan from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, calling it a “reasonable approach” that both parties in both chambers should be able to support.
All the cuts put forward by Reid were agreed to by both parties during the talks led by Vice President Joe Biden earlier this summer, according to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
Also, Reid’s plan would meet Republican demands that the debt ceiling only be raised by as many trillions of dollars as it would cut, Carney said.
The plan does not include new taxes or revenues, which the president has always insisted must be part of a big deal. As recently as Monday afternoon, in a luncheon speech, Obama was talking about the importance of a “balanced approach.”
But faced with a “my way or the highway” approach unveiled by Republicans Monday, Carney said, Reid came up with a “responsible compromise that cuts spending in a way that protects critical investments and does not harm the economic recovery.”
And the president hopes House Republicans will go along with it, according to the White House.
“The plan would make a meaningful down payment in addressing our fiscal challenge,” Carney said, “and we could continue to work together to build on it with a balanced approach to deficit reduction that includes additional spending reforms and closing tax loopholes for corporations, millionaires and billionaires.”  (read more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is reiterating his call for a deficit-cutting plan that cuts spending and that also increases tax revenue by making the wealthy and corporations pay more to help stabilize the long-term debt.
The president made his comments to the National Council of La Raza on Monday as congressional leaders struggled against time to come up with a plan to meet an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.
Obama said the wealthy and big corporations have to “pay their fair share, too.” And he alluded to the difficulty of cutting a deal, saying “compromise is becoming a dirty word.” (read more)
Details From Reid’s $2.7 Trillion Debt Plan Emerge: Cuts $1.2 Trillion From Discretionary Spending, $1 Trillion From Ending Afghan, Iraq Wars – Rough notes from FNC producer Trish Turner about the Senator Harry Reid proposal:

• $1.2t — discretionary cuts — defense and non-defense. *Notes Boehner agreed to $1.2t before broke off talks w/ WH.
• $100b mandatory savings. Negotiated by Biden grp. Won’t impact Medicare, Medicaid, or SS benefits.
• * Breaking this down
• * $40b in waste, fraud, abuse
• * $30b in Fannie/Freddie reforms
• * $15b in spectrum sales and Universal Service Fund Reforms
• * $10–15b in agriculture reforms
• * Higher education prog reform whose savings go to sustain the Pell Grant Program. (No dollar on this)
• $1t in savings from winding down the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• $400b in interest savings.

“This is an offer that Republicans can’t refuse. Make no mistake about it: The two-step plan outlined by Speaker Boehner is a dodge,” Sen. Schumer (D-NY) said at a press conference this afternoon with Harry Reid.
The above is just a reiteration of what we already knew from last night with some details added in positions outlined on what cloudy manipulations are being used by Reid/Pelosi.   However, even their proposal does NOT include tax rate hikes which Obama has stated is a mandatory component for anything he will sign.  Is there a deceptive reason for Obama’s crew to advance a proposal that they know Obama will not support?   I think so…..  Read on…..
House GOP Unveils New Debt Bill: $1.2 Trillion Cut In Federal Spending, Additional $1.8 Billion In 2012  –  WASHINGTON (AP) — In a blunt challenge to President Barack Obama, House Republicans drafted legislation Monday to avert a threatened Aug. 2 government default — but along lines the White House has already dismissed. U.S. financial markets shrugged off the uncertainty.
According to a GOP aide familiar with the emerging House bill, it would provide for an immediate $1 trillion increase in the government’s $14.3 trillion debt limit in exchange for $1.2 trillion in cuts in federal spending.
The measure also envisions Congress approving a second round of spending cuts of $1.8 trillion or more in 2012, passage of which would trigger an additional $1.6 trillion in increased borrowing authority.
While the bill marked a retreat from legislation that conservatives muscled through the House last week, the two-step approach runs afoul of Obama’s insistence that lawmakers solve the current crisis in a way that avoids a politically charged rerun next year in the middle of the 2012 election campaign.
Without signed legislation by day’s end on Aug. 2, the Treasury will be unable to pay all its bills, possibly triggering an unprecedented default that officials warn could harm an economy struggling to recover from the worst recession in decades.
That deadline has set off an epic clash between the two parties, each side maneuvering for public approval and political leverage in advance of next year’s elections with the White House and control of Congress at stake.  (read more)
Self-Avowed Communist Sen. Bernie Sanders Says Obama Should Use The 14th Amendment To Bypass Congress And Raise Debt Ceiling:

Summary:   Here is how it looks to me.  The Boehner compromise was dismissed by the White House last week because he was only going to accept tax increases of $800 billion.  Pelosi tacked on another $400 billion and the deal fell through.   The proposal that Obama/Reid/Pelosi constructed is false figures and manipulations on “future” spending.  Essentially smoke and mirrors, but looks only at those “cuts” outlined above.   So Boehner has proposed a debt ceiling raise with real-time actual next year budget cuts to match the increase.

“The idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. I promise you, not just on immigration reform. But that’s not how our system works. That’s not how our democracy functions. That’s not how our Constitution is written,” Obama said at the National Council of La Raza’s annual conference.

The idea of being a “dictator” is “very tempting”?  That should set off major alarm bells in the hearts and minds of Americans.   Is this all just a set up?   Is this why Obama is going on national TV tonight to make the case for him taking action arbitrarily if congress does not act?   I have a sneaking suspicion that is indeed the case.   Given his propensity for governance by dictatorial fiat as evidenced in Obamacare, I’ve got a funny feeling this is the plan all along……  With the full support and praise of the media for him being such a wonderful grownup.  I can hear the talking points now.   
What say you?