Flashback to 2009: Obama vows to cut budget deficit in half!

Seems t'me one hallmark of liberals, Democrats and socialists is gullibility--at least when it comes to the nonsense being spewed by Obama and his underlings.

Exhibit 1: this article from Feb, 2009, which touts Obozo's vow to cut the "huge" annual federal deficit in half.

Obie had been in office for over a year when the article was published, so it's hard to claim (with a straight face, at least) that neither he nor his staff of geniuses knew the facts about the nation's financial situation.

Obama vows to cut huge deficit in half
by Mike Allen, at Politico February 21, 2009

President Obama will announce...that he plans to cut the nation’s projected annual deficit in half by the end of his first term....

Contrary to his campaign promise [shocka!], Obama will allow the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans to expire as scheduled at the end of 2010 instead of seeking their repeal sooner. Officials determined that seeking to raise taxes earlier during a recession was a bad idea, advisers said.

This is classic lib logic: If "raising taxes earlier during a recession is a bad idea," wouldn't it be a bad idea to raise taxes at any point during a recession?

Obama...will also outline steps he is taking to eliminate what his staff calls “accounting gimmicks” used by previous administrations.

“This budget [will] assume there will be a [natural disaster] in the U.S.... each year going forward 10 years,” the official said. “The Bush budget never assumed that.”

Gee, I wonder if they actually budgeted money for disasters in their budget?

Oh, that's right--it's been two years since they submitted one!

Under White House projections, this year’s inherited budget deficit of $1.3 trillion will be cut to $533 billion by fiscal year 2013, the end of the first term. “We’ll cut it at least in half,” the official said.

Oh, at least. Because when Obie was at Hahvahd they taught him that if you just say things often enough--and have the liberal media providing cover for ya--everything will work out just like you wanted.

And if not, your lapdog media (Chris "tingle up my leg" Matthews et al) will ignore your failures. Like the Chicago Annenberg Challenge that pissed away $50 million on weird education ideas and got zip in terms of any improvements.

The official said the bulk of the savings come from winding down the war in Iraq, additional revenue from raising taxes on the wealthy, and other cuts and savings to be specified later.

Yeah, "to be specified later." As in, much later.

Just like the recent bill to raise the debt "ceiling": Load all the cuts into years after Duh Won has left office, but take credit for 'em today. Brilliant.

Wait, isn't that exactly the same thing they did with Obammycare? Start taxes right away, but payouts don't start for five years or so--then take credit for the illusory surplus!

Gee, glad they're not gonna' use any “accounting gimmicks” that they accused previous administrations of using!

Obama said...that a budget blueprint he is releasing Thursday will be “honest in its accounting.”

Another implication that the Bush administration was dishonest. But see above-- Obie and the Dems are masters of accounting tricks. Hell, Geithner even left out something like $50,000 of his personal income on his income tax, and he's the damn Treasury secretary.

The budget...does not assume deep cuts in Medicare physician payments.

But a year later the Health Care Nationalization Act cut $500 Billion from Medicare in order to reduce the *apparent* cost of Obamacare. Wonder where those cuts actually came from?

Anyway, I thought y'all would appreciate seeing how the tricks are done: Lie like a rug, use your media arm for cover, use union demonstrators to pressure reluctant legislators--and then when nothing works out the way you said it would, whine that the outcome was "totally UNEXPECTED!"

It's guaranteed to work on 52 percent of the voters every time.