Balancing the Budget

The lead article in today’s New York Times is titled, “Obama to Seek Spending Freeze to Trim Deficits.” The article describes a topic to be covered by President Obama in tomorrow’s State of the Union address. He is plannng to call for a three-year freeze in programs in the domestic budget, but the Defense Department, Veterans Affairs, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will be exempt.

Most announcers are describes the impact as a drop in the ocean, though a White House adviser tried to defend it as a first step. However, the program may upset the Democratic base because of the military exemption and upset Republicans because it isn’t big enough.

This represents a continuing conundrum for President Obama. By trying to accommodate everyone, he ends up pleasing noone. The area of the budget he suggested for initial cuts represents only eight percent of the total budget.

I guess we’re now living post-national healthcare in terms of White House priorities. It seems like they’ve forgotten all their other big programs as well and are focusing on an incremental approach. This is profoundly disappointing, and one would hope that President Obama fights with the House to pass the Senate healthcare bill, with a promise of changes later. But that will require leadership and a willingness to take another major risk ….