After almost a year of big, new spending proposals - to say nothing of the tab that will come along with government run health care - the White House is signaling that this year's one and a half trillion dollar deficit might be a political problem that needs to be dealt with after all.
It's a good bet that what this really represents is their recognition of what's happening in elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York - and their trying to inoculate themselves against similar political damage in the future.
From the Washington Times [2]...
Anxiety about the deficit has fueled the anger of the conservative "tea party" activists, riled by government spending and debt, and it has seeded reservations about the long-term price tags of signature items on the president's agenda...
A speech last week by Christina D. Romer, chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, looked at the reasons for the deficit and at how it relates to health care reform. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday to make clear that the administration recognizes the deficit is growing too large.
"Well, it's going to have to come down. Now it's too high, and I think everybody understands this," Mr. Geithner said. "The president's very committed to bring down these deficits."
Republicans have hammered the administration for government spending levels, and public polling for the first time is showing that the American public is losing confidence in the president's handling of the economic crisis. That shift occurred in the middle of last month, when a range of public surveys showed that more people (46.9 percent) disapproved of the president's handling of the economy than approved of it (45 percent), according to the Web site Pollster.com. ...
Mr. Orszag's speech will not contain any new proposals or policy solutions, but will attempt to lay a foundation for the conversations to come next year. ...
In other words, it's just words... Oh, and they plan to continue to blame everything on Bush.
As his top aides try to make clear that they recognize the problem, Mr. Obama has added an element to his speeches: He reminds the public that he "wasn't sworn in yet" when the nation's economy took a nosedive.
So what do they plan to do?
The White House on Monday was noncommittal on one of the top political solutions under discussion: the creation of a bipartisan commission to study the problems of the long-term deficit and debt and to deliver recommendations to Congress for up or down votes that could not be amended.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that the idea will "be looked at."
Which likely means "no", because it would have to result in recommended reductions in entitlements...which liberals won't stomach.
So just what kind of deficit/debt are we looking at now? The ten year forecast of deficits via Obama budgeting is nine trillion...which will be added to our current debt of almost twelve trillion - a number that's bigger than the entire annual US economy.
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