So president Obama is now about to publish a new budget proposal for 2012 and beyond. Of course, it is less than two months since Obama put forth his first proposal. Now, without any explanation for the change, Obama is going to make major revisions. As usual, Obama's allies in the main stream media are out there trying to prepare the environment for the president. Here is the opening section of the AP article on the subject:
"President Barack Obama, plunging into the rancorous struggle over America's mountainous debt, will draw sharp differences with Republicans Wednesday over how to conquer trillions of dollars in spending while somehow working out a compromise to raise some taxes and trim a cherished program like Medicare.
"Obama's speech will set a new long-term deficit-reduction goal and establish a dramatically different vision from a major Republican proposal that aims to cut more than $5 trillion over the next decade, officials said Monday.
"Details of Obama's plan are being closely held so far, but the deficit-cutting target probably will fall between the $1.1 trillion he proposed in his 2012 budget proposal and the $4 trillion that a fiscal commission he appointed recommended in December."
What do we learn from the AP? First, no one has even tried to answer the question as to why Obama's 2012 budget proposal from seven weeks ago had not a single cent in spending cuts, but now obama has suddenly become a deficit cutter. It seems like 1984, and big brother Obama can just change what he says and the past disappears. Indeed, AP even describes a 1.1 trillion dollar cut as being in the 2012 budget proposal. this claim is nonsense; there are no cuts. Instead, Obama calls for a freeze in domestic spending at already elevated levels rather than increasing that spending further. Only in Washington could freezing spending at extra high levels be called a cut.
Second, note that the Republican plan cuts SPENDING for an over six trillion dollar savings over the next decade (not 5 trillion as the AP says), while Obama's new plan will cut the DEFICIT rather than spending. In other words, Obama is going to use major tax increases to reduce the deficit rather than major spending cuts.
Third, AP makes clear that Obama's plan will be dramatically different from that of the GOP. AP means that Obama's plan will conform to the AP's political agenda while the GOP's plan does not. The truth, however, is that I expect that there will be a dramatic difference between the two plans. The GOP plan will actually cut government spending in a major way by eliminating unnecessary programs, consolidating others and revamping Medicare for those under 55, while I expect that Obama's plan will make minor revisions to government spending while calling for further taxes on Americans.
One thing that is not mentioned is how Obama will justify his agreement in December to extend the tax rates for all Americans for two years with his new call for increased taxes. Nothing changed since then; if anything, the economy improved. In December, Obama and the Obamacrats comfortably controlled Congress as they had for the previous two years. they could have raised taxes if they really thought it appropriate. They did not. Now, after Obama and his Democrat majorities passed a tax rate extension, we are supposed to believe that there is a need for a tax increase? We are back to the 1984 scenario.
the truth is that if Obama is not careful in his speech on Wednesday and the proposal that it contains, he will destroy what little credibility he has left with the American people.
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