He finished speaking in Cleveland by urging his audience to “choose the future over the past.” A good thing — we should move on to 2011 instead of repeating the year 2009. Anyway, here were his “they-have-no-ideas” remarks, in part:

Just this year, these same Republicans voted against a bipartisan fiscal commission that they themselves proposed.  And when you ask them what programs they’d actually cut, they usually don’t have an answer.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., replies:

“President Obama must have misspoken today, because I have personally sat across the table from him and suggested specific ways to cut spending. Furthermore, House Republican Leader John Boehner and I urged President Obama to work with Republicans to cut spending by using his authority to send Congress a “rescissions” package.  In fact, we sent President Obama a letter twice pledging to work together with him on that effort. We still have not heard back – seven months later. It doesn’t end there, through the YouCut program House Republicans have offered over $120 billion in spending cuts, only to be voted down by Democrats in the House. Finally, House Republicans Jeb Hensarling and Paul Ryan have introduced a “Cut Spending Now” package of specific cuts that would save taxpayers $1.3 trillion.

“President Obama is entitled to his opinion, but he’s not entitled to his own facts, and with that in mind I am asking him to either clarify or withdraw the accusation that he made earlier today.”

Barack ObamaBeltway ConfidentialeconomyUS