Sunday, June 14, 2009

Obama's spending a political risk

One word: YES.

We all know that if Obama's health care plan does not pass this year, forget it. Next year is mid term election time and no one will put their head on a platter, for either side, with proposed spending out of control.

Obama's job is to make sure the public understands what this spending is about and to REMIND THEM, why we are here thanks to the Bush Administration. This argument can still be used because the fact is that the Bush Administration left this country in a mess, financially, riddle with two wars, spending out of control, international partnerships strained and the story is endless. But one thing the Bush Administration did very well was to contract out the Iraq War, pay their cronies in the billions and left the books in tatters. That is a fact.

For any health care plan to pass it must be this year, as Obama has political clout, if not, FORGET ABOUT IT.

After enjoying months of towering poll numbers, legislative victories and well-received foreign policy initiatives, the White House has become increasingly concerned that President Obama's spending plans, which would require $9 trillion in government borrowing over the next decade, could become a political liability that defines the 2010 midterm elections.

The concern was reflected in the aggressive response from administration officials to criticism that money from Obama's stimulus plan is arriving too slowly to help the languishing economy, as well as in the president's public endorsement of "pay as you go" legislation, which would require Congress to make room for new non-discretionary spending with equivalent cuts to other parts of the budget. Saturday, Obama also outlined billions of dollars in savings that would be used to pay for his health-care reform proposal.

But there is evidence of growing public concern over his fiscal policies. As he traveled Thursday in Green Bay, Wis., Obama was greeted by demonstrators holding signs that said, "No socialism" and "Taxed Enough Yet?"

Republican leaders, who have been searching for a way to dent the president's popularity, are training their attacks on his economic policies as they look ahead to the 2010 midterm congressional elections. Their argument that Obama is spending recklessly, however, is complicated by the fact that the previous GOP administration's tax cuts, borrowing to finance wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and expansion of entitlement benefits remain the chief drivers behind the rising debt.

"The reckless fiscal policies of the past have left us in a very deep hole," Obama said last week. "And digging our way out of it will take time, patience and some tough choices." read more here.....

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