Obama urges parties to find common ground in debt debate [Video]

President Obama dashed off a message to congressional leaders before heading to Camp David later Saturday, urging them to meet back at the White House on Sunday serious about working out a deficit-reduction plan (see video below).

In his Saturday morning address, Obama acknowledged the stark differences in position among the negotiators, framing them as a case of Republicans and Democrats who don’t see “eye to eye on a number of issues.”

But the political situation is far more complicated than that, as vote counters in the House and Senate are discovering as they search for a combination of provisions that might be able to pass both chambers.

On the conservative flank, Republican House Speaker John Boehner is likely to lose dozens of Republicans who won’t vote for such a package no matter what.

And progressives who make up a third of all House Democrats reject any package that would cut into the social safety net. Factions in the Senate are similarly divided.

Nonetheless, the leaders are scheduled to meet Sunday afternoon to try and work toward a compromise. Obama and Boehner want to craft a plan that would reduce deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade, in time to win support for a measure to raise the country’s debt ceiling.

After Aug. 2, the Treasury warns, the country won’t be able to pay its debts without permission to borrow.

“We can meet our fiscal challenge,” Obama said in his address, echoing the message he has sounded for the last week. “That’s what the American people sent us here to do. They didn’t send us here to kick our problems down the road.”