Wednesday, February 16, 2011

You Got To Give It To Him, He's A True Believer

I'd been ignoring the release of the president's budget as I pared down my morning political reading list (out: Hot Air), but B-Daddy brought me out of my dream world. I checked out the WSJ on the topic and came to the same conclusion.
This was supposed to be the moment we were all waiting for. After three years of historic deficits that have added almost $4.5 trillion to the national debt, President Obama was finally going to get serious about fiscal discipline. Instead, what landed on Congress's doorstep on Monday was a White House budget that increases deficits above the spending baseline for the next two years. Hosni Mubarak was more in touch with reality last Thursday night.
Obama has been telling us what he believes all along and this budget is the budget of a True Believer. Government is the answer. Jennifer Rubin fussed about Obama's news conference on the topic where there were statements like this.
"You guys are pretty impatient. If something doesn't happen today, then the assumption is that it's not going to happen," Mr. Obama said. "This is not a matter of 'you go first' or 'I go first.' This is a matter of everybody having a serious conversation about where we want to go and then ultimately everybody getting into that boat at the same time so it doesn't tip over."
Other than using a silly metaphor, I'm not sure what the problem is. This is who he is, who he's been and who he said he was going to be. He's never led anything of significance in his life, he's never had to work with a powerful, principled opposition and he is a True Believer in the power of government. A budget of wishful thinking from his administration isn't much of a surprise, nor is the refusal to take a leadership position on this.

And here I thought the Clinton years (1993-2001) were paradise. I guess they were years of oligarchic tyranny and government neglect.

Just as a semi-side note, wouldn't it be surprising for him to change his world view while in office? You'd think that an insular White House (insular for every occupant, not just him) would be the last place you'd change your thinking. He's chosen people who think like he does - from where would come the change?

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