Budget Magic

Obama's appearance on Leno marked the beginning of a national PR sweep in support of his new multi-trillion budget up for a vote in Congress later this year. The full court press will continue daily, including the weekly address. Unlike the Iran video there were no sub-titles, so allow me to offer this translated version:

"We inherited this mess from Bushco, which is hindering us from the change we believe in. But despite being trillions in arrears we are going to double down anyway and go for broke [a new slogan -ed] while our poll numbers are still high or before people realize what's going on. For those paying attention, our amorphous promise to cut the deficit in half by the end of four years--which privately leaves us rolling on the floor in laughter--will sooth any fiscal fears. We hope"

There are a few left in the press willing to push back. During Friday's briefing several reporters grilled Gibbs on the fact the CBO has already said the numbers don't add up, basically torpedo-ing Obama's ambitious 2 trillion in budget savings he's been using to justify the massive spending. When confronted, Gibbs went back to talking points.

White House budgets are pie-in-the-sky based, not reality-based. When Bush submitted his first budget in 2001 he projected we'd be swimming in trillions of surplus bucks about now. After 9/11, Iraq and Katrina the rest is history. And that's the problem with these projections, they don't include realistic contingencies. Stuff happens. We all know this from managing our own household finances.

Obama knows this too, of course. But he also knows he's got one clear shot at nationalized health care, cap and trade, illegal immigration reform and a new confiscatory tax code on the "rich" to transform America into a quasi-Euro socialist state before the 2010 elections come along.

The smoke and mirrors part is to promise he'll reduce the deficit in half by 2012--after the mid-terms--mainly by cutting federal programs that don't work. Rather absurd coming from someone who was supported by all the federal unions. Congress has already informed him to stay out of their earmarks so this deficit reduction ain't gonna be comin' out of the federal bureaucracy.

That leaves a perfect storm for confiscatory tax increases on the "rich" to make up the shortfall or perhaps even a clever way to work with a changed Congress after 2010 should another Newt revolution occur. And apparently it's going to happen, either by hook or by crook.

TIN PIN 3/21/09

Obama told Leno he's been practicing his bowling, reaching 129. Sounds like a lot of hard work based on those campaign gutter balls. But just a few weeks ago his spokesman was telling the press that Obama and staff were too tired to honor British Prime Minister Brown because they were engrossed in the economic bailout.