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Who will win the battle of the budget?

March 17, 2011 by B. Daniel Blatt

Instead of serving as a post-partisan president whose policies will yield a “net spending cut,” Barack Obama has become, in the battle of the budget, the most partisan president whose team have directed ever more spending to favored projects.

Now, while paying lip service to the debt (as the NRCC ad below indicates), the president and his fellow Democrats are playing politics with the budget:

Ad via Jim Geraghty.  Instead of offering leadership on budget restraint, Obama, John Fund reports in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Dairy (available by subscription) is hanging backed and waiting for House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan to release a Republican budget:

President Obama has apparently decided to borrow some political plays from Bill Clinton, who after his party’s defeat in the 1994 mid-term elections began running ads attacking Republican plans to reform Medicare. At the same time, Mr. Clinton focused on a series of granular policy initiatives — promoting school uniforms was one memorable example — that were politically safe and popular with independent voters. Mr. Obama appears to be following the same strategy — offering little in terms of policy substance, remaining disengaged in budget negotiations and waiting for Republicans to present a target for him to shoot at.

Democrats are going to attack “heartless” Republicans for wanting to cut popular programs as they pay little heed to Obama’s campaign concern that we’d been “living beyond our means.” Will Americans believe the Democrats’ rhetoric?  Or will they look at the federal balance sheet awash in red ink and understand the need to cut spending?

Let’s hope that Republican legislators in Washington take a page from their counterparts in Madison, Wisconsin and stand firm in the face of, what is sure to be, blistering attacks from the Democrats, their allied interest groups and the media.

Should Republicans hold to their principles, they could both win the debate and finally start cutting federal spending.  But, they have to stand firm.

Filed Under: Big Government Follies, Congress (112th)

Comments

  1. Mary says

    March 17, 2011 at 6:19 pm - March 17, 2011

    Why didn’t he and Madame Pelosi release a budget for last year?

  2. ILoveCapitalism says

    March 17, 2011 at 6:51 pm - March 17, 2011

    I think Barry might be the biggest liar ever to sit in the Oval Office… topping both Clinton and Nixon.

  3. Sebastian Shaw says

    March 17, 2011 at 7:08 pm - March 17, 2011

    Obama’s passivity & the Democrats unable to come up with a credible budget of their own will sink them.

  4. Sebastian Shaw says

    March 17, 2011 at 7:08 pm - March 17, 2011

    But the Republicans have to keep playing hardball regardless.

  5. Absolute Dominance Marketing says

    March 17, 2011 at 7:56 pm - March 17, 2011

    I almost find it laughable to hear President Obama saying these things in the wake of all of his spending initiatives. Then I realize that my kids are going to be dealing with this when they become leaders of this nation if our conservative elected officials don’t stand up for the principles we believe in and know can fix this problem.

    What don’t the left get about this. They have children too, what are they thinking? Their children will have to deal with the diminished position of the United States that will likely come as a result of serious mismanagement of our fiscal health by the Obama administration.

  6. Sebastian Shaw says

    March 17, 2011 at 8:35 pm - March 17, 2011

    Obama needs a new target to vilify since he offers nothing. Literally. Paul Ryan’s budget is a starter to demonize the “evil Republicans.” Given the temperament of the people though, Obama is playing with fire; the fool is not even aware of it though. Obama will get burned since he will not offer anything as a counterpoint to the Republicans.

    People do not want a repeat of the Obama of the last 2 years, but this is all Obama has to give since he’s an empty suit.

  7. DaveO says

    March 17, 2011 at 10:32 pm - March 17, 2011

    Folks inside the Beltway can say anything, do anything, and if no one sees or hears it, it doesn’t matter. The winner of the budget battle is the one who controls the media:

    TV
    Radio
    Internet
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Mail Advertisements

    Dems in the Senate will force a closure of government, including the almighty paychecks, and blame the GOP for all of it – just as they did when Dems had both houses of Congress, the POTUS, and a comfortable 5 votes in the SCOTUS. Plenty of folks believed them then, and they’ll be aching to believe them again next month.

  8. ThatGayConservative says

    March 18, 2011 at 4:47 am - March 18, 2011

    Why didn’t he and Madame Pelosi release a budget for last year?

    Because the administration of transparency didn’t want you to know what they’re spending your money on.

  9. ThatGayConservative says

    March 18, 2011 at 5:14 am - March 18, 2011

    If you’d like to know where the leader of the free world stands on those NCAA rankings, just turn on ESPN. (“I think Kansas has more firepower,” he explained as he filled out his bracket.) Wondering what the commander in chief thinks about gun laws? Don’t worry—he’s in favor of those already on the books, according to a recent op-ed.

    If, however, you are curious about where the most powerful man in the universe stands on Libya, radiation, a possible government shutdown, the future of Social Security, or rising oil prices, don’t look to the White House. Those issues are tough. Those issues risk mistakes. Those issues might mean unhappy voters. And right now, it’s approval ratings the White House cares about. – Kimberly Strassel

    Either that or he has an intern hidden under his desk.

  10. V the K says

    March 18, 2011 at 5:27 am - March 18, 2011

    Obama is “voting present” on the budget, just as he is “voting present” on Libya, exactly as some on the right pointed out he had done hundreds of times as a state legislator and were called ‘racist’ for pointing out.

    But, hey, he’s off to the beach in Rio this weekend, because, obviously, there are no serious domestic or global developments in need of presidential attention

  11. Levi says

    March 18, 2011 at 9:23 am - March 18, 2011

    Does anyone here think that the Republican Party wants to see the economy recover between now and the 2012 Presidential election?

    Would anyone put it past the Republican Party to do what they could to actually worsen the economy between now and the 2012 Presidential election?

  12. B. Daniel Blatt says

    March 18, 2011 at 10:31 am - March 18, 2011

    Um, Levi, what does your comment have to do with the post to which it is attached? I wrote about the battle on the budget, with the Republicans pushing for cuts as per the president’s campaign promise and the president and his fellow Democrats demagoguing those cuts.

  13. North Dallas Thirty says

    March 18, 2011 at 11:48 am - March 18, 2011

    Would anyone put it past the Republican Party to do what they could to actually worsen the economy between now and the 2012 Presidential election?

    You mean like your Obama Party and “progressives” did between 2000 and 2008?

    You’re projecting again, Levi. Just because you and your fellow Obama Party “progressives” would deliberately abuse governmental power and privileges to torpedo the economy for political ends doesn’t mean everyone else will. Unlike you, other people have morals and values that don’t justify everything in the name of power.

    We perhaps ought to be asking you that, Levi: why do you support the Obama Party and “progressive” strategy as espoused by Frances Fox Piven, Bill Ayers, and their pupil Barack Obama of cratering and destroying the US economy through violent riots and overloading of social services to remake it as a socialist utopia?

  14. ThatGayConservative says

    March 18, 2011 at 12:47 pm - March 18, 2011

    Would anyone put it past the Republican Party to do what they could to actually worsen the economy between now and the 2012 Presidential election?

    You mean would they actually hurt their allegedly eeeeeeeeeeevil “rich” base just to win an election? WTELF?

    Back under the bed with you.

  15. ILoveCapitalism says

    March 18, 2011 at 4:27 pm - March 18, 2011

    Would anyone put it past the Republican Party to do what they could to actually worsen the economy

    I wish. What I mean is: There is a recession that still has to be gone through, as we get rid of Obama’s Potemkin economy sustained by crazy spending, QE/ZIRP and $1.6 trillion deficits. We may as well get that recession over with. Better sooner than later. I wish the Republicans had the balls to establish the small-government policies now that would do that and get us back to having a productive economy that could produce real jobs and real growth.

  16. Gene in Pennsylvania says

    March 18, 2011 at 5:10 pm - March 18, 2011

    Obama….”budget, what budget?”
    Libya….where’s Libya…”
    “unemployed, what unemployed….”
    drill for oil….what drill….”
    The dithererer in chief.
    A UK paper asks if this is the worst President…..EVER.
    A stunning embarassing indictment.
    ahh those liberals.
    Todays news…Obama cancels national square SPEECH to the Brazilians. Afraid of a riot? not sure.
    Barack Husiien Obama elementary school closes.
    Is there no good news at all for these liberals?
    Guess not.
    http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/235196/Barack-Obama-The-Weakest-President-in-history-

  17. Sebastian Shaw says

    March 18, 2011 at 6:53 pm - March 18, 2011

    Gene, I read the piece from the UK Express; they are attacking Obama from the Left. But it is still a good piece since they are questioning Obama’s continual “present” votes.

  18. Gene in Pennsylvania says

    March 18, 2011 at 8:06 pm - March 18, 2011

    You know conservatives think Obama is a dolt, to have the left agree is a real coming together. Who knew BHO would unite us? hehe

  19. ThatGayConservative says

    March 18, 2011 at 10:31 pm - March 18, 2011

    Obama’s Potemkin economy

    Mandy Potemkin? He was pretty cool in Criminal Minds and, of course, The Princess Bride.

    to have the left agree is a real coming together.

    And it’s from the Euro-left so that’s even worse. We were told they hated Bush, but nobody ever provided any evidence of that, that I saw. The orgasm seems to be over.

  20. Sebastian Shaw says

    March 19, 2011 at 11:02 am - March 19, 2011

    TGG, the UK press has been far more critical of Obama than our domestic MSM for some time.

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