Michael Scherer is puzzled:
Today we see another headscratcher: The Republican National Committee puts out a press release slamming President Obama for not embracing the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission, the same commission that raises taxes by $1 trillion, and which House Republican leaders unanimously opposed just a year ago. …
There was good political logic behind Obama’s cautious strategy. He was hoping a big deal could be crafted in private, and he knew that his public embrace of Simpson-Bowles in late 2010 would make it radioactive to Republicans in the House, who already said they opposed it, while infuriating the left by endorsing entitlement cuts without further negotiating. The irony is that now the opposite has happened. Republicans are increasingly embracing Simpson Bowles as an anti-Obama plan, even though it jibes, with the exception of a few details, with the sort of policy that Obama would love to make his legacy.
Which is why Obama should run on it.
The Dish 