If the warning is misconstrued to mean that deep and immediate spending cuts are needed - as Republicans have claimed - it will be counterproductive.

It is daring again-not always in a good way but in one that is likely to be instructive to more timid souls, not least Mr Obama and his Republican foes.

His plan served as a sharp counterpoint to Republican lawmakers, who have insisted that tax increases should play no part in taming the nation's escalating national debt.