Obudget Battle

This week's Presidential Address takes on the budget and Obama's efforts to pass it.


The problem is Obama's budget is staggering: $3.55 trillion at last count. Not even I think all of that will be approved. Even with a 78-seat majority in the House, Obama is going to have to fight for every last dollar through Congress, and remember, last year a budget didn't even get passed. It fell to those omnibus spending bills that were extended to the last minute. Some of those bills still haven;t been passed, and the fiscal year ended back in September.

But the honest truth is we're down to the government as spender of last resort. If we don't get the economy going soon, we're facing the Lost Decade scenario. And remember, that suits the GOP just fine. They want a spending freeze and to permanently extend (if not increase) the Bush tax cuts...and throw in MORE tax cuts for corporations. They will do everything they can to block this budget for months and months, causing as much damage to the economy as possible.

Expect Blue Dog Democrats in the House and DINO senators to follow suit. The usual suspects are already whining about the budget, and corporate interests and wealthy Americans are already declaring war on Obama.

We'll see.