Obama's Promise To Go Through Budget Line By Line Yields "Cuts" Of 17 Billion Dollars, Lots Of It From...Wait For It...Defense

I was promised there would be no math on this blog but $17 Billion on a $3.1 Trillion Budget is, add this, carry that and it totals....not a whole hell of a lot (actually, it's 1/2 of 1%).

Of course these aren't really cuts in the overall budget at all.

About half of the trims would come from curbing defense programs that have been identified by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates as expendable. They include ending production of the F-22 fighter plane and canceling a new presidential helicopter fleet.

...The proposed cuts, if adopted by Congress, would not actually reduce government spending. Obama's budget would increase overall spending; any savings from the program terminations and reductions would be shifted to the president's priorities.

But the more likely outcome, budget analysts said, is that few to none of the programs targeted by Obama will be terminated. Presidents from both parties have routinely rolled out long lists of spending cuts -- and lawmakers from both parties routinely ignore them."

In other words there's a good chance that the Kings of Pork on Capitol Hill will just stick 'em back in later. Well played Mr. President.

Listening to Obama sell this, he's not really focusing on the dollar amount but the 'over one hundred programs cut' part. Clever marketing.

If nothing else this lame effort shows there's still power in the budget as an issue. It's telling that Obama feels he has to pay lip service to cutting spending even as he raises it through the roof. The challenge for Republicans is that everyone loves to hear about budget cutting right up until it's there pet program that takes the hit.

Heh...What $17 billion will buy you.

Below, a reminder of when Obama thought $18 billion wasn't all that important.

Note he's comparing the 18 billion to 300 billion in McCain's tax plan. Now 17 billion is a big deal against 3 trillion. Hope and Change indeed.

posted by DrewM. at 10:24 AM

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