President Obama’s budget was a fanciful document that employed phantom, unidentified future budget cuts. And even with those imaginary savings, it would still allow a reckless accumulation of debt.
Yet here I am, reduced to applauding the President for at least putting something on paper.
Democrats resoundingly rejected the President’s budget so that it failed to get a single vote in Congress. That would be fine if Democrats were calling for more fiscal discipline, more specifics, or offering any alternative at all—even if it was one that posted even higher levels of debt.
They didn’t, of course. They instead have embraced petulance as policy. They know they don’t like what the President proposed, or what Republicans have proposed, but are unwilling to offer any proposal of their own.
It’s embarrassing, or should be. The public is already so disgusted with Washington that this can barely add to an already full cup. Yet voters should keep this in mind when they see attack ads in the run up to November lambasting Ryan-Republicans’ savage proposed budget cuts. Congressional Democrats refuse to even publicly announce what their plans are for the country. It’s not because they don’t know what they want to do or how much it will cost (though that would be disturbing too) but because they know the American public would be horrified by it. Is that something Americans really want to sanction by voting for again?