THERE HE GOES AGAIN DEPT:
In unveiling his news budget, once again Obama takes a shot at the Bush administration:
President Barack Obama unveiled a multitrillion-dollar spending plan Monday, pledging an intensified effort to combat high unemployment and asking Congress to quickly approve new job-creation efforts that would boost the deficit to a record-breaking $1.56 trillion. Speaking from the White House hours after the budget's release, the president decried "what can only be described as a decade of profligacy." He pledged to "do what it takes" to create jobs, while asking lawmakers to follow his lead on reducing "waste in programs I care about."
All presidents tend to blame problems on their predecessors, of course; this is nothing new. But this president seems not to realize that the blame-Bush game isn't playing well. He'll also need to work on the contradictions plaguing his budget--on the one hand he talks of spending freezes, but on the other hand he seeks spending to create jobs, etc. Gonna be hard to do both, Mr. President...
And it still doesn't look like the public buys into what Mr. Obama is selling. For example, in the often-overlooked poll on the direction of the country, still...after over 1 year of Obama...a recent poll finds only 38% of the country believing we're on the right track; 60% see us on the wrong track.
As for the health care bills and the liberal claim that, if only the Democrats would ram these bills through, the public would like them...Megan McArdle today contemplates exactly what I've been thinking: that if the Dems do it, the great turnaround in public opinion ain't gonna happen.
After all, the details of the bills have been out there for months; Obama has spoken publicly again and again about them. So, what--the American people will suddenly consume and buy into all that, just like that? Nope.
