Yet other articles in the carefully balanced package show a sense of compassion and even grace: one describes a news conference by The Almighty under the headline "God Angrily Clarifies 'Do Not Kill' Rule".
Mr. Obama assured House and Senate Republicans during recent separate visits that he could support specific cost-saving changes to Medicare and deliver Democratic votes, though only as part of a "balanced" package that had additional revenues.
What the public doesn't support is a so-called "balanced" package akin to the one proposed a few years ago by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the co-chairs of President Obama's doomed deficit commission.
All in all, we are offering a balanced package".
Republicans oppose any new taxes while Democrats say a balanced package must include higher revenues.
On July 25, the White House trotted out the president to insist on a "balanced package".
The chancellor told MPs: "It is a balanced package that will send the signal that Britain is open for business".
Clegg said that the two reforms composed a balanced package that should stand or fall as a whole.
Liberal Democrat sources said they believed that they had negotiated a "balanced package" which would be seen as fair.
"Unfortunately, the speaker walked away from a balanced package," Mr. Obama said, referring to their earlier talks.
The White House was clear all along that, when it came to replacing the sequester, it would demand a balanced package of spending cuts and revenue increases.
