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in declaring that this so-called sequester threatens the military as well as domestic programs. But his plan to avoid it basically repeated the offer of a “balanced approach” — unspecified tax hikes and spending cuts — which Republicans have already rejected.

Somewhat more substantively, he called for a larger deficit-reduction deal built around loophole-closing tax reform and what he called “modest” reforms to Medicare and entitlements. In an apparent effort to rally Democrats to this cause, he called on “those of us who care deeply about programs like Medicare” to “embrace” reform.

Yet in promising the same amount of Medicare savings as the Simpson-Bowles commision proposed, Mr. Obama did not mention that this would be a mere $341 billion over 10 years. All told, he envisions shaving an additional $1.5 trillion off projected deficits over 10 years, which would leave the national debt at a historically aberrant 70-odd percent of gross domestic product. In short, he declined to push back against the mind-set within his party that considers acceptable “stabilizing” the debt at this level by the time Mr. Obama’s second term ends. At best, that would buy a respite of a few years before the debt resumed its upward climb.

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