About That Exorbitant Iraq War Pricetag...

One of the less impressive elements of tonight's speech (I'll have a full review up tomorrow morning) was President Obama's clumsy attempt to link the recession with the Iraq war. Midway through his remarks, Obama lamented the substantial costs of nearly a decade of American war efforts:

Unfortunately, over the last decade, we have not done what is necessary to shore up the foundation of our own prosperity. We have spent over a trillion dollars at war, often financed by borrowing from overseas. This, in turn, has short-changed investments in our own people, and contributed to record deficits.

A fair point, perhaps, but it's critical to put that number in context. Keep this statistic handy: According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the president's so-called stimulus bill passed by Congressional Democrats in 2009 cost more than the entire American campaign in Iraq--all eight years of it.