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WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama vows responsibility and accountability - but he blames his predecessor for the mess we're in.
Obama invites compromise with Congress -- but says he himself won't back down on his spending priorities.
He promises to halve the federal deficit by the end of his term -- but he means the deficit he inherited, not the one he's building now.
Yes, it seems contradictory, but nobody thought change would be simple. Or easy.
Obama says people voted for change, and that's what he's delivering. But he's also asking Americans to do something politicians rarely ask. He's asking them to keep two ideas - or several -- in their heads at the same time.
Obama could have jump-started the economy with $787 billion in stimulus, watched to see its ripple effects and then pushed for more spending on other priorities before finally trying to reduce the federal deficit. Such a measured pace would have pleased critics who say he is courting hyper-inflation with his mega-spending.
But he and his team say conditions are so grave that the country needs to move on many fronts at once. Besides, White House economists project that inflation will hover around 1.1 percent this year and next before rising to about 1.8 percent a year.
So, the 44th president proceeds to do everything simultaneously, no matter how difficult - and risky -- it appears. He showers the withered economy with new spending ... winds down one war and escalates another ... pushes for significant investments in education to make the nation competitive and in energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. He makes a $634 billion "down payment" over 10 years on revamping the nation's health care system to cover 47 million uninsured. And he finds $2 trillion in deficit reductions to begin moving the government toward a more sound fiscal footing.
When Obama sent his first budget plan to Congress Thursday, the nation got a glimpse of the push-pull nature of his competing goals. With a 142-page outline -- the details are due in April - he set the course to spend a record $3.55 trillion to run the government. At the same time, he plans to cut the deficit - which is expected to reach $1.75 trillion this year -- to $533 billion in 2013.
The budget was a rebuke to President George W. Bush. Obama proposes to allow Bush's tax cuts for high-income taxpayers to expire at the end of 2010, close corporate tax loopholes, reduce costs from the war in Iraq and make government operate with more efficiency and less waste. Obama also reformed the way the budget is constructed.
"For too long, our budget has not told the whole truth about how precious tax dollars are spent," Obama said in his budget remarks. "Large sums have been left off the books, including the true cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that kind of dishonest accounting is not how you run your family budgets at home. It's not how your government should run its budgets either."
To be sure, Obama's budget proposal is a starting point with Congress. His plan took steps toward delivering on his campaign promises. But the old adage still holds: The president proposes; Congress disposes.
Anticipating the outcry on Capitol Hill over his spending and tax increases, Obama said, "We will each and every one of us have to compromise on certain things we care about but which we simply cannot afford right now. That's a sacrifice we're going to have to make."
While he said there are "hard choices" ahead, he didn't show his hand on areas of potential compromise.
He seemed anything but conciliatory, declaring, "What I won't do -- as I mentioned at the joint-session speech a couple of days ago - what I won't do is sacrifice investments that will make America stronger, more competitive and more prosperous in the 21st century...These investments must be America's priorities, and that's what they will be when I sign this budget into law."
So, the president will make cuts - just in the programs he chooses. That's not contradictory. That's good political theatre for an ambitious president.
(What do you think? Comment below.)
Obama invites compromise with Congress -- but says he himself won't back down on his spending priorities.
He promises to halve the federal deficit by the end of his term -- but he means the deficit he inherited, not the one he's building now.
Yes, it seems contradictory, but nobody thought change would be simple. Or easy.
Obama says people voted for change, and that's what he's delivering. But he's also asking Americans to do something politicians rarely ask. He's asking them to keep two ideas - or several -- in their heads at the same time.
Obama could have jump-started the economy with $787 billion in stimulus, watched to see its ripple effects and then pushed for more spending on other priorities before finally trying to reduce the federal deficit. Such a measured pace would have pleased critics who say he is courting hyper-inflation with his mega-spending.
But he and his team say conditions are so grave that the country needs to move on many fronts at once. Besides, White House economists project that inflation will hover around 1.1 percent this year and next before rising to about 1.8 percent a year.
So, the 44th president proceeds to do everything simultaneously, no matter how difficult - and risky -- it appears. He showers the withered economy with new spending ... winds down one war and escalates another ... pushes for significant investments in education to make the nation competitive and in energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. He makes a $634 billion "down payment" over 10 years on revamping the nation's health care system to cover 47 million uninsured. And he finds $2 trillion in deficit reductions to begin moving the government toward a more sound fiscal footing.
When Obama sent his first budget plan to Congress Thursday, the nation got a glimpse of the push-pull nature of his competing goals. With a 142-page outline -- the details are due in April - he set the course to spend a record $3.55 trillion to run the government. At the same time, he plans to cut the deficit - which is expected to reach $1.75 trillion this year -- to $533 billion in 2013.
The budget was a rebuke to President George W. Bush. Obama proposes to allow Bush's tax cuts for high-income taxpayers to expire at the end of 2010, close corporate tax loopholes, reduce costs from the war in Iraq and make government operate with more efficiency and less waste. Obama also reformed the way the budget is constructed.
"For too long, our budget has not told the whole truth about how precious tax dollars are spent," Obama said in his budget remarks. "Large sums have been left off the books, including the true cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that kind of dishonest accounting is not how you run your family budgets at home. It's not how your government should run its budgets either."
To be sure, Obama's budget proposal is a starting point with Congress. His plan took steps toward delivering on his campaign promises. But the old adage still holds: The president proposes; Congress disposes.
Anticipating the outcry on Capitol Hill over his spending and tax increases, Obama said, "We will each and every one of us have to compromise on certain things we care about but which we simply cannot afford right now. That's a sacrifice we're going to have to make."
While he said there are "hard choices" ahead, he didn't show his hand on areas of potential compromise.
He seemed anything but conciliatory, declaring, "What I won't do -- as I mentioned at the joint-session speech a couple of days ago - what I won't do is sacrifice investments that will make America stronger, more competitive and more prosperous in the 21st century...These investments must be America's priorities, and that's what they will be when I sign this budget into law."
So, the president will make cuts - just in the programs he chooses. That's not contradictory. That's good political theatre for an ambitious president.
(What do you think? Comment below.)