President Obama's wild rhetorical gyrations have become familiar. Earlier this year, for example, he called budget cuts proposed by House Republicans "extreme," suggesting they hurt "our most vulnerable citizens." Yet after agreeing to many of them last Friday, he praised them as "worthwhile," "common sense," and evidence America is "beginning to live within our means."
In his speech at George Washington University yesterday, Mr. Obama repeated the mantra that "We have to live within our means, reduce our deficit, and get back on a path that will allow us to pay down our debt." But these words ring hollow coming from a president who has overseen a staggering increase in spending since coming to power. His most recent budget would nearly double the public debt in the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Moreover, the goal Mr. Obama laid out yesterday—"a balanced approach to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over 12 years"—was missing but one thing: a concrete blueprint to reaching it. That is what his budget, submitted in February, was supposed to do.
None of this should come as any surprise. Mr. Obama routinely describes a fiscal nirvana without telling Americans how he proposes to get there.
Wall Street JournalThe rest is at the link above.
As has been already noted in many analyses, the debate on the debt ceiling is going to be very contentious and loud -- Lord Zero will no doubt use a lot of Scarebama rhetoric, but if Boehner can stick to the position of strength that Rove says the GOP is in, a very solid "X" can be put over in the GOP win column.
I believe Mr. Mannn has quoted another article from the WSJ in another thread. Another very good read.
