In 2011 Clip, Former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles Praises Paul Ryan Budget, Criticized President Obama

Erskine Bowles - who co-chaired President Obama's Deficit Commission and previously served as chief of staff for President Clinton - didn't think much of Mitt Romney's budget proposal.

"His reform plan leaves too many tax breaks in place and, as a result, does nothing to reduce the debt," Bowles wrote in the Washington Post this month.

But Bowles, at least in this clip from last year, had kind words to say about Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal. And not so nice words to say about President Obama's.

WATCH:

"Have any of you all met Paul Ryan?" Bowles asked. "We should get him to come to the university. I'm telling you this guy is amazing.

"I always thought that I was okay with arithmetic, but this guy can run circles around me.

"And he is honest, he is straightforward, he is sincere. And the budget that he came forward with is just like Paul Ryan. It is a sensible, straightforward, serious budget and it cut the budget deficit just like we did, by $4 trillion…

"The President came out with his own plan and the President as you remember, came out with a budget and I don't think anybody took that budget very seriously. The Senate voted against it 97 to nothing.

"He, therefore, after a lot of pressure from folks like me, he came out with a new budget framework and, in that new budget framework, he cut the budget deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years. And, to be candid, this $4 trillion cut was very heavily back-end loaded. So, if you looked at it on a 10 year basis and compared apples-to-apples, it really was about a two and a half trillion dollar cut."

Hat tip to Hot Air.

-Jake Tapper

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