President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning.Certainly dropping cap-and-tax would be a very smart thing to do. Driving a bill through that would increase the costs of just about everything we do in exchange for no discernible benefit would probably reduce the Democrat party to a permanent minority, not to mention the damage to a fragile economy.
The president's plan, which the officials said was under discussion before this month’s Democratic election setbacks, represents both a practical and a political calculation by this White House.
On the practical side, Obama has spent more money on new programs in nine months than Bill Clinton did in eight years, pushing the annual deficit to $1.4 trillion. This leaves little room for big spending initiatives.
On the political side, Obama can help moderate Democrats avoid some tough votes in an election year and, perhaps more importantly, calm the nerves of independent voters who are voicing big concerns with the big spending and deficits. Even if Obama succeeds - and that’s a big if - it will be tough for many Democrats to sell themselves as deeply concerned about spending after voting for the stimulus, the bailouts, the health care legislation and a plan to address global warming, four enormous government programs.
“Democrats have to reassure voters we are not being reckless,” said a Democratic official involved in the planning. “The White House knows this and that's why we'll be hearing a lot about reducing the deficit early next year. Democrats owned this issue for the past four years and cannot afford to cede it to Republicans now."
The big question for Obama – and the country – is whether the sudden concern about deficits will be more rhetoric than reality once his first State of the Union address concludes.
All presidents promise deficit reduction – and almost always fall short. There is good reason to be skeptical of this White House, too, on its commitment.
For starters, the White House has not dropped plans for an aggressive global warming bill early next year that will be loaded with new spending on green technology and jobs – that would be paid for with tax increases. Democratic lobbyist Steve Elmendorf says the White House focus on deficit reduction could easily kill the cap-and-trade effort. “I think this means cap-and-trade has to go to the backburner,” he said.
Additionally, there is no evidence Democrats are willing to aggressively cut the biggest parts of the budget, such as entitlement programs and defense. Former President Bill Clinton told Senate Democrats at their policy lunch this week that one of the biggest reasons to finish health care is to allow Obama to focus on economic concerns next year – in part with more spending. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said afterward that Clinton had advised getting health care out of the way to “clear the tables and allow the focus to be on jobs and education and infrastructure.” None of that is free.
But I don't think he can do it. Obama is such a lefty ideologue and so desperately wants the rest of the world to love him, I just can't imagine him dropping cap-and-tax and risking a collective "tut-tut" from the world's greenies.
And you can't cut deficits with more spending, but that seems to be what Clinton and other Democrats are pushing. Bottom line - they're not really interested in stopping deficits, they're interested in looking like they're interested in stopping deficits. Their actions will not match their words.
3 comments:
After you build it up that big how hard can it be to cut some of it? It will be a token cut, for sure, and whatever it is will further weaken the country and make the citizens more dependent on government in some way. Discerning this pattern is not rocket science.
So, let's see if I understand this correctly. He has been spending like a teenager with a shiny new credit card, but soon he's going to start clipping coupons and shopping at Walmart.
Yeah, right. This is "change you can believe in" ... if you are a totally stupid sap.
Noted economist Joe Biden:
"People look at me and say, "What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we've got to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?" The answer is "Yes,"I'm tellin' ya."
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