Obama stands his ground on fiscal debates

(AP) Obama stands his ground on fiscal debates
By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama devoted one word _ “deficit” _ to the issue that brought Washington to the brink of fiscal crises time and again during his first term.

But it was the paragraph that followed in his inaugural address that foreshadowed what’s to come _ more hard bargaining and more last-minute deals driven by Obama’s own conviction that he now wields an upper hand.

He conceded that “outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time,” but forged ahead with a call for training more math and science teachers, for building roads and even for funding more research labs.

If there was a way to reconcile such spending with demands to stabilize the nation’s debt, he didn’t mention it.