President Obama argued Republicans are unwilling to negotiate a balanced deal to avoid the impending devastating budget cuts because they believe that “nothing is important enough to raise taxes on wealthy individuals or corporations.”

Obama made the remarks during an interview with Reverend Al Sharpton on his radio show Keepin’ It Real as part of his ongoing campaign to help explain the impending and unpopular sequestration budget cuts to Americans.

“At this point we continue to reach out to Republicans to say ‘This is not going to be good for the economy, This is not going to be good for ordinary people,’ but I don’t know if they’re going to move, and that’s what we’re gonna have to try to keep pushing for over the next seven, eight days so I think for the public just to know that this will have a serious effect on the overall economy,” he said.

That impact will reach beyond the economy as well: furloughed government workers, cuts to head start, meat inspectors, and even airport employees.

He admitted he still does not know if Republicans can be swayed to put together a balanced deal. “Whether or not we can move republicans at this point to do the right thing is what we’re still trying to gauge.”

But he clearly knows the vast majority of Americans are on his side on this issue. “This is a major argument obviously we’ve been having for the last three years,” he said. “When you look at polling, 75% of the American people agree with me that the way to reduce our deficit sensibly is through a combination of spending cuts and  tax revenue and if we spread that out over several years, it wouldn’t have a bad impact on our economy.