Breathtaking -- And Not in a Good Way

Carol Platt Liebau | November 14, 2009 2:31 PM

This report from Politico discusses President Obama's plans to theme his State of the Union address around cutting the deficit. What jumps out is the following gasp-inducing statistic:

Obama has spent more money on new programs in nine months than Bill Clinton did in eight years, pushing the annual deficit to $1.4 trillion.

Given this fact, the push for "fiscal responsibility" that the President is going to talk-talk-talk (and talk some more) about is a joke. Really care about not exploding the deficit? There are two easy ways to avoid it:

(1) Redirect the unspent "stimulus" money to payroll tax cuts. That will have the added benefit of actually stimulating employment.

(2) Call off plans to jam a mind-bogglingly expensive, freedom-stealing, unpopular health care "reform" down the American people's throats.