Obama Advisor David Plouffe: Budget Cuts Both 'Draconian' and 'Historic'

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2011— -- Senior Advisor to the President David Plouffe conceded this morning that some of the cuts the White House agreed to in order to avoid a government shutdown were draconian. In an interview on "This Week" with anchor Christiane Amanpour, he called the cuts both "draconian" and "historic."

"The Senate majority called what the Speaker was asking for, just in February," Amanpour said, "he called it 'draconian.'" She pointed out the cuts were now being called historic. "I mean, which is it? Is it draconian yesterday and historic today?" Amanpour pressed.

"Well," Plouffe replied, "some of the cuts were draconian. Because it's not just the number, it's what composes the number."

"So in this budget deal, the President, Senator Reid, you know we protected medical research, community health centers, kids in Head Start. We were not going to sign off on a deal that cut those things," Plouffe said. "The President was comfortable with the composition of this deal that, again, there were some tough cuts in there…but in these fiscal times, everyone is going to have to make tough decisions. So it was a historic deal for the American people."

Plouffe insisted the budget that the White House, the Senate and House agreed to preserved the country's ability to invest in and "win the future."

Plouffe began in his position as senior advisor to the president in January of this year.

Plouffe says that Donald Trump had no chance of making it to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Plouffe, who managed President Obama's successful 2008 campaign, told Amanpour that any Trump presidential run would be a losing affair.

"What do you make of Donald Trump and raising this [birth certificate] issue?" Amanpour asked Plouffe. "Do you think it's going to be a big issue in the campaign?"

"I don't. I think I saw Donald Trump kind of rising in some polls and given his behavior and spectacle the last couple of weeks, I hope he keeps on rising because there is zero chance that Donald Trump would ever be hired by the American people to do this job," he said.