I've got to give it to the guy. He comes out on the podium, furrows his brow, takes on his serious and subtly angry persona and declares he's going "line by line" to cut spending from his $3.4T budget.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/06/AR2009050603454.html?hpid=topnews
This sort of thing is great theater. Obama proposes to cut $17B from programs that his secretary of Defense has already basically made public a few months ago. The cuts are also less than what G.W. Bush proposed in previous years. Bush proposed $34B in cuts and it is routine that presidents request cuts. Bush was unable to get the same cuts to many of the same programs because Congress didn't go along. It seems Congress is rumbling again about the cuts this year. But who really cares? Let's not bicker and argue over who cut what...
Whether the cuts happen, whether the cuts don't happen -- it will all be forgotten in a day or two and we'll move on to some other speech on some other topic. He'll look tough with brow furrowed. People will leave with the sentiment: "hey, this guy is doing something". Americans will be happy. Heck, even crusty ole me loves the circus.
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