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President Obama calls for ‘fiscal cliff’ talks with congressional leaders at the White House

WASHINGTON — President Obama yesterday declared himself “open to compromise” — even as he brandished his Election Day victory and insisted any budget deal must require the wealthy to pay more taxes.

“We can’t just cut our way to prosperity. If we’re serious about reducing the deficit, we have to combine spending cuts with revenue — and that means asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes,” Obama said at a White House event where he took no questions.

Obama addressed the nation and its looming fiscal crisis for the first time since he won re-election and announced he has invited congressional leaders of both parties to meet with him at the White House next Friday before he heads to Asia.

Obama said the tax issue was a “central question” of the election — a clear suggestion that Republicans should yield to his position, with less than two months to go before the country hits the fiscal cliff.

“It was debated over and over again. And on Tuesday night, we found out that the majority of Americans agree with my approach,” Obama said. “I’m open to compromise, but I refuse to accept any approach that isn’t balanced.”

Obama also called on the House to pass a Senate bill extending middle-class tax cuts without extending the rate cuts for the top two brackets.

The president’s call for tax hikes for the wealthy continue to be a nonstarter with House Speaker John Boehner, who clashed with the White House over the issue last year during prolonged debt talks.

“Raising tax rates will slow down our ability to create the jobs everyone says they want,” Boehner said yesterday.

He has said he’s open to raising revenue but not by hiking income-tax rates. He has suggested raising revenue through tax reform and eliminating “loopholes” while shoring up entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

“This is an opportunity for the president to lead,” Boehner said. “This is his moment to engage the Congress and work toward a solution that can pass both chambers.”

Toned-down rhetoric aside, what’s not clear is whether there is middle ground between them that might keep the country from careening off the fiscal cliff — the automatic massive spending cuts that get triggered at the end of the year, plus the expiring Bush-era tax cuts that would simultaneously hammer both the rich and the middle class on Jan. 1 absent any action.

The average American family would pay an extra $2,000 to $3,000 in taxes if the Bush tax cuts expire, and the economy could shrink by 0.5 percent, the Congressional Budget Office reported.

Obama didn’t take questions at the event, which was packed with people the White House only described as “middle class Americans and other stakeholders.”