Thursday, February 26, 2009

Promises

So the new President isn't doing a ton of backpedaling on campaign promises as might be expected -- he's enacting them via his new Federal budget proposal:



It'll be a battle royale in Congress, with Republicans seeking to make their Party relevant by crying, "No, no no!" just months after the last President left, the one who let them spend us into massive debt. There will be Democrats to battle as well, those trying to carve out more for their own constituents or make political points. But the most striking aspect of this budget is the sheer honesty of Obama reversing the Cheney/Bush policy of baldfaced budget lying, where the costs of their wars were kept off the books -- treasonous.

Speaking of their wars, their pet project, attacking the country that didn't attack us on 9/11, President Obama is about to announce a 19-month plan (3 more than he promised, not too shabby) for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq, while leaving in place an advisory force that Democrats are already yelping about. In an odd-bedfellows moment, he's garnering the support of Conservatives like Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for this policy choice.

As the saying goes, if he's being attacked by both sides, he must be doing something right.

2 comments:

Master Fu said...

It'll be a battle royale in Congress, with Republicans seeking to make their Party relevant by crying, "No, no no!" just months after the last President left, the one who let them spend us into massive debt

The irony of that statement just stupefies me. Pop quiz which costs less, 8 years of the war in Iraq or the Stimulus? I think I like the new term for the Stimulus: The Generational Theft Act.

Anonymous said...

Without stimulus $$ -- and lots more of it -- there'll be nothing here to leave to the next generation except dust bowls, breadlines, empty factories, etc.

On the positive side, however, the next generation will learn how to speak Mandarin.

(fyi: the cost of Iraq has been projected at $2.3T; the stimulus pkg is only $787B, $350B of which is tax cuts, not spending.)