also being honored german chancellor angela merkel, warren buffet and poet maya angelou. the medal of freedom recognizes those who have made a contribution to the national interests of the u.s. or to world peace. congratulations. you have to add in bill russell there for that magical moment. it will be warren buffet and not jimmy buffet? that might be margaritaville, though, you never know. yesterday morning at this time, we were telling you about the president s big budget and it s big. close to, look at the big board over there. $3.73 trillion. g.o.p. reaction was swift. it spends too much, borrows too much and taxes too heavily. the interesting thing about it and the message of the november election was we can t run these deficits forever. interestingly enough, the president s deficit reduction doesn t actually start to kick in in a profound way until after he is re-elected. if he s re-elected. you had congressman paul
if folks can t say yes to good offers, then i also have an obligation to the american people to make sure that the entire burden of deficit reduction doesn t fall on the seniors who are relying on medicare. there is a basic fairness that is at stake in this whole thing. reporter: republicans say to be fair the president must focus on entitlement reform to reduce the deficit. are you prepared to do that in your first year of your second term. what i said i m prepared to do everything i can to make sure medicare and social security are there not just for this generation but future generations. reporter: despite the current gridlock the president says he mains optimistic but asserted democracy is messy. one way or another we ll get through this. to i wish that things were more orderly in washington? and rational and people listen to the best arguments and
big story in the telegraph today. are you changing the subject? i m building on it. every time i build on the story, people are shocked. by the way, i m a member. they say the average weight of the man bag is 13.7 pounds. that means 14 bags of sugar. think about the compression of your spine as we carry around things that we need. boo-hoo! women have been doing this for centuries. boo-hoo. guy has to carry around the bag and get a bad back. laptop, everything that we have in there, we re in trouble. as much as your man bag weighs, 15 pounds is the average now they say? if you carry around the rumsfeld book, it s 25 pounds. kids backpack to school weighs 45 pounds. that puts it all in perspective, doesn t it? good point. once you get through all the numbers in the budget, you end up with one thing. redistribution of wealth.