Democrats are saying Obama’s budget is strategic genius. It avoids recommending any unpopular choices or dealing with any difficult topics so that Republicans will have to take those up and be hated by the masses for doing so. That is the excuse for Obama skipping over any sort of entitlement reform. Others are saying he is “establishing credibility with the voters” by writing some unpopular budget cuts into his plan so that he can negotiate with Republicans.
So now the President’s responsibility is reduced to a subtle way of taking partisan jabs at his political enemies?
It doesn’t seem that way to me. It seems to me that Obama’s budget is much more like a bad joke or embarrassing bodily noise that one tries to avoid making in public.
Obama has come out now saying that his budget cuts the deficit and that we “can’t run up the credit card” anymore. This is an odd claim since Obama’s budget actually runs up an additional $250 billion on the card this year, setting his deficit at a new record of $1.65 trillion. And he doesn’t even have a stimulus bill to show for it.
The real joke is that Obama’s budget reduces the deficit to $607 billion after ten years. Of course, Presidential budget projections ten years out are as on target as a superbowl prediction ten years out. But even if Obama does cut the deficit to $607 billion it will still be over $100 billion higher than Bush’s worst deficit in 2008.
Don’t worry, Obama’s deficit doesn’t have a chance at getting as low as $607 billion. Obama’s “tough choices” on budget cuts circumvent entitlements altogether, but he does have cuts to education funding and heating for the poor. That’ll pass.
Obama also includes tax hikes that his own party wouldn’t pass. This must be part of his genius strategy where he somehow hangs his deficit around the Republican’s neck. Obama’s spending cuts and tax hikes will never pass.
A liberal friend of mine informed me that the President’s budget really doesn’t matter, what counts is what Congress does. Apparently he was trying to make me feel better about the President’s embarrassing budget. I’m fine with that. Bush was crucified for his last two years in office for high budget deficits. Nevermind that Obama dwarfed those deficits his first year in office (and again his second and now third year), does this mean we can now blame Pelosi/Reid for Bush’s budget deficits? The last time Republicans controlled Congress they had a $248 billion deficit. That is less than the increase in Obama’s $1.65 trillion deficit this year.
Obama is betting on his skills of manipulation and a willfully ignorant voting public. He has offered a sham budget with hopes that Republicans will do his job for him so that he can blame them for failure or take credit himself for success. Clinton did the same thing when Gingrich and co. shut down the government and balanced the budget.
Obama’s budget is a shameful joke. Liberals love him for it because they see his partisan agenda. Hopefully the majority of voters see it for what it is: a waste of Obama’s time and our tax dollars.
The Conservative Constitutionalist Movement 