Crippling Our Range of Action

Even the New York Times sees the potential for damage from continued fiscal irresponsibility and insatiable spending habits, something apparently lost on the President:

But the second number, buried deeper in the budget’s projections, is the one that really commands attention: By President Obama’s own optimistic projections, American deficits will not return to what are widely considered sustainable levels over the next 10 years. In fact, in 2019 and 2020 — years after Mr. Obama has left the political scene, even if he serves two terms — they start rising again sharply, to more than 5 percent of gross domestic product. His budget draws a picture of a nation that like many American homeowners simply cannot get above water.

And then there's this rather harrowing pronouncement from the sidebar of an accompanying graphic:

Even that may be an understatement.  In the last 30 years, about 80-percent of four-year deficit forecasts have been too optimistic.

Wisconsin Congressman Tom Petri, observing that Congress actually crafts the budget after the President puts forth his proposal, is right when he notes:

There is little reason to suppose that the leadership in Congress will do any better than President Obama in coming up with a solution for our deficit crisis.