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Was Obama's speech too fiery? Why he was so harsh on GOP budget plan.

President Obama's campaign-style rhetoric reached for the Democratic base, and may be an acknowledgement that a deficit-reduction deal is unlikely before the 2012 election.

A day after President Obama savaged the Republicans鈥� 2012 budget proposal, while delivering his own framework for deficit reduction, Republicans are still smarting.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R) of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee, told a forum Thursday that he and other House Republicans attended the president鈥檚 speech expecting an olive branch, and instead 鈥渨e got front-row seats to President Obama鈥檚 reelection campaign speech.鈥�

鈥淚 knew we were going to get a lot of partisan attacks,鈥� Congressman Ryan, the author of the GOP budget plan, told an event organized by the conservative think tank e21. But, he added, he 鈥渄idn鈥檛 expect it from the commander in chief,鈥� saying that Obama had brought himself down to the level of a 鈥減artisan mosh pit.鈥�

Mr. Obama usually prefers to stay above the fray. But in his speech Wednesday, he seemed to use as much verbiage pounding the Ryan plan as laying out his own. Some Republicans have said they felt the president was even calling the Ryan plan 鈥渦n-American,鈥� when he said that it 鈥渨ould lead to a fundamentally different America than the one we've known 鈥� certainly in my lifetime.鈥�

Ryan鈥檚 plan would transform Medicare from an entitlement to a system of 鈥減remium support,鈥� in which the government helps seniors purchase private insurance, with consideration for income level and health needs. Obama characterized it this way: 鈥淚t says, instead of guaranteed health care, you will get a voucher. And if that voucher isn't worth enough to buy the insurance that's available in the open marketplace, well, tough luck 鈥� you're on your own."

Ryan rejects the use of the term 鈥渧oucher,鈥� and calls Obama鈥檚 description of his proposal a 鈥渄ramatic distortion.鈥�

At his daily briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Jay Carney called Obama鈥檚 address 鈥渁 policy speech,鈥� not 鈥渁 campaign speech.鈥� He also said that 鈥渢he president believes that Chairman Ryan鈥檚 very sincere,鈥� and that all Obama did was 鈥渄escribe one vision and then describe his own.鈥�

Reaching a bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction by the end of June 鈥� as suggested by Obama 鈥� is probably a long shot in the best of circumstances. On Thursday, White House budget director Jack Lew called making the June deadline 鈥渁 significant challenge.鈥� Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R) of Wyoming, co-chairman of the president鈥檚 bipartisan fiscal commission, told reporters after a meeting in the Oval Office Thursday that setting dates in Washington is 鈥渢he goofiest thing you could do.鈥�

Still, after the 11th-hour budget agreement last Friday that averted a government shutdown, some strategists suggested the deal had set a template for further bipartisan negotiation on tough budget issues. Ryan himself said Thursday that he had expected to build on that experience going forward, but now he believes Obama鈥檚 speech 鈥渄efinitely damages鈥� the prospects for a grand bargain on deficit reduction.

That Obama鈥檚 deficit reduction speech had political overtones is hardly shocking. Everything the president does has a political dimension, and Obama did, after all, just declare himself as a candidate for reelection. He has faced growing pressure from the left to take on the right鈥檚 budget-cutting efforts more energetically. Increasingly, progressive groups are warning Obama that the ground troops who made his improbable 2008 campaign a success aren鈥檛 convinced he deserves their time and money again, even if they will still vote for him.

Obama鈥檚 lack of Democratic primary challenger, and the as-yet weak field of Republican challengers, has given him a fair amount of running room in his legislative deal-making. But if he can鈥檛 get his base of supporters 鈥� particularly young and minority voters 鈥� excited about four more years, he could face trouble come November 2012. That calculation may have played a part in his rhetorical choices Wednesday.

And, he may not see much potential for a major deal on deficit reduction anyway before the next election. After all, while voters say they are worried about the debt and deficits, they are squeamish about cuts to health-care entitlements 鈥� the biggest driver of the nation鈥檚 looming debt crisis. The real question, then, is how long the nation can keep racking up debt without reaching that crisis point. If you鈥檙e the president and you鈥檙e running for a second term, you can only hope it鈥檚 not before Election Day.