Senators and congressmen in both parties have begun to publicly oppose the automatic cuts in military spending that would take effect in January 2013 if the "supercommittee" fails to reach a deal. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, has drafted legislation to replace the military cuts with an across-the-board cut of other parts of the federal budget.
The Obama White House is not publicly engaged in the "supercommittee" talks and has operated only behind the scenes, unlike its highly publicized involvement in the debt ceiling negotiations during the summer, which were held at the White House.
But Obama on Friday telephoned the two co-chairs of the committee, Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, to warn that he would veto any effort to change the "trigger" provided by the automatic cuts.
A White House statement declared, "Congress must not shirk its responsibilities. The American people deserve to have their leaders come together and make the tough choices necessary to live within our means, just as American families do every day in these tough economic times."
The reference to "tough choices" is consistent with the position taken by the White House throughout the summer and fall. Obama embraced cuts in Medicare after they were proposed by House Republicans, and then himself introduced a proposal for cuts in Social Security, putting that program on the chopping block for the first time.
Any agreement on the supercommittee is certain to have the enthusiastic support of the White House, no matter how draconian the cuts in vital social programs. At the same time, Obama has engaged in phony populist demagogy, posturing as an opponent of Wall Street and the wealthy in order to sell the cuts as "equal sacrifice" and to position himself for reelection next year.
Such considerations were evidently at play in the decision last week to reshuffle the White House staff, relieving Chief of Staff William Daley of responsibility for running much of the day-to-day operations, in favor of a deputy, Pete Rouse, a longtime top congressional aide.
Daley, former vice chairman of JP Morgan Chase, was brought in as chief of staff at the beginning of this year to strengthen White House relations with business interests, particularly Wall Street, as well as to cut deals with the incoming Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported Daley's partial demotion, noted, "Daley has been a target of Occupy Wall Street protesters in recent weeks, an additional awkward twist for the president who would like to harness the movement's anti-business sentiment for his own political purposes in 2012."
The Washington Post added that "it may be challenging for Obama to square his populist approach heading into the 2012 campaign with Daley's background in banking."
This "populism" is a completely cynical maneuver by an administration that, even before it took office, was the devoted servant of Wall Street interests. Obama backed the bailout of the banks, which began under Bush, and named one of the architects of the bailout, Timothy Geithner, as his treasury secretary.
This cynicism is shared by the Nation magazine, one of the most abject apologists for Obama, which proclaimed the White House reshuffle "good news for progressives." A commentary by George Zornick suggested that the White House was engaged in "at least a partial retreat" from the shift to the right signaled by Daley's appointment.
Giving friendly advice to Obama, the column continued, "It's not hard to imagine that while facing a mass popular movement against big banks and predatory capitalism, not to mention the increasingly likely possibility it will face a Republican opponent in 2012 best known for starting Bain Capital, it's not ideal to have the most important non-elected person in the White House be from JPMorgan Chase."
In other words, anticipating an Obama-Romney contest next fall, the Nation and its liberal co-thinkers will go all out to peddle illusions in the Democratic Party and portray Obama as the scourge of Wall Street.
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