Brain Freeze

That's what seems to be going on at the White House:

President Obama plans to announce a three-year freeze on discretionary, "non-security" spending in the lead-up to Wednesday's State of the Union address, Hill Democratic sources familiar with the plan tell POLITICO.

The move, intended to blunt the populist backlash against Obama's $787 billion stimulus and an era of trillion-dollar deficits -- and to quell Democratic anxiety over last Tuesday's Massachusetts Senate election -- is projected to save $250 billion, the Democrats said.

The freeze would not apply to defense spending or spending on intelligence, homeland security or veterans.

The proposal is in line with a plan floated by Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), a fiscal hawk, who told Bloomberg's Al Hunt last week that there was a "fighting chance" Obama would propose a freeze in most discretionary spending by the federal government as part of his address.

Obama will make a populist pitch to suggest that this freeze means something, but after jacking up federal spending by a factor of something like 300% this freeze isn't going to mean much.

And the really good news is the left is going absolutely wacky over this proposed freeze. The Won just can't win.