Budget Cuts, Mr. President?

President Obama in campaign mode:

“I mean, Senator McCain has been talking tough about earmarks, and that's good, but earmarks account for about $18 billion of our budget.”

Bottom Line: $18 billion is nice to cut, Sen. McCain, but it’s not terribly important.

President Obama after becoming President:

On Tuesday evening, when President Barack Obama declared before a joint session of Congress that "we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks," House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, popped out of their seats like jackrabbits for a standing ovation. On Wednesday, those same House Democrats, led by Pelosi, passed a budget with, by some counts, nearly 9,000 earmarks, worth an estimated $7.7 billion.

Bottom Line: Nearly $8 billion in earmarks is fine by me.

President Obama today:

"None of these savings by themselves are going to solve our long-term fiscal problems. But taken together, they can make a difference, and they send a signal that we are serious about how government operates."

Bottom Line: I was kidding earlier. Every little bit DOES count.


I welcome your cut today, Mr. President. However, I ultimately question your budget trimming sincerity, mainly because of your comments during the campaign AND during your first address to the Congress.

However, your own estimates on budget deficits are pretty sad, evident by the chart below.

One of my biggest criticisms of President George W. Bush and the Republicans in charge of Congress from 2002-2006 and the Democrats in Congress from 2006-2008 is the lack of intelligence when it came to fiscal responsibility.

However, if we stay on this road President Obama, we will go WAY beyond lack of intelligence. By 2020, we will achieve utter lunacy. And I’m sure that’s not what you want to be remembered by.