Everyone hates it; you don't decide you just cut a flat % of the top of everything you can.

Sorry, that's the only politically viable way. Washington isn't in a place where they can constructively agree on what makes sense, so they need to do what doesn't make sense. Better to be decisive and let the results evolve than dither about and get in deeper.

There are a number of intelligent tax increases I could recommend; but they are all hard to pass in congress.

Similarly, cutting defense (outside of sequestration) is impossible to pass due to the expectation of corporate welfare in the defense industry around the country.

Set your goal and chop, chop, chop. You than use the chop as leverage to pass real solutions instead of fake ones.

And for god's sake; don't expect a one year instant solution. We are 20+ years from our last balanced budget. It'll take 5-10 years of smart choices to work out of the hole we've built.