Spending freeze and pessimism
Sometimes it seems like the president just can’t win. His first year was plagued by accusations of overspending. Now that President Barack Obama has announced a spending freeze, Republicans are saying that’s impossible. Democrats are saying he’s pandering to Republicans.
We elected the guy. Shouldn’t we trust him? That isn’t the American way, evidently. Don’t get me wrong; I think a certain level of skepticism is healthy. One tires of the constant simpering. It’s like if someone got payday loans, couldn’t pay them back and got in trouble – everyone blames the direct lender instead of the dead beat.
Conditions to Obama’s spending freeze
Obama’s spending freeze will last until the end of his current term — three years. It isn’t a complete freeze; he says he still will allow military spending. Of course, he’ll talk about this in his State of the Union address tomorrow, and I am sure there will be more exceptions to Obama’s spending freeze. Maybe once he explains the details people will calm down, but for now it appears that pretty much everyone has a problem with it.
Obama says the spending freeze will save $ 250 million over the next three years, and exactly how it will work will be detailed Feb. 1 when he unveils the budget. The good thing about Obama’s spending freeze, according to Kristi Keck, from CNN, said that the spending freeze “could help him recapture the favor of centrist voters.”
Negative press
To those who are dismissing Obama’s spending freeze as impossible, I quote Keck again, who points out that this is “a partial, three-year freeze on discretionary spending.” That doesn’t sound that hard, does it? Still, there’s no shortage of quotes like this one from CNBC:
“This is like announcing you’re going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House of Representatives Republican leader John Boehner.
