DEAR LEADER SPEAKS TO SUBJECTS TODAY – AT 7:58 A.M. ET:  President Obama, in office more than two years, will finally address the issue of debt reduction in a speech today.  Advance notices are not promising.  From Fox:

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama enters politically tricky territory Wednesday when he outlines his plan for reducing long-term deficits and the national debt amid a climate of tense budget negotiations.
Obama's speech at George Washington University will follow White House talks in the morning with congressional leaders who are staking out positions on upcoming issues, including approval of last week's budget deal for the rest of the current fiscal year, increasing the federal debt ceiling and crafting a budget for fiscal year 2012.

For Obama, the speech is a response to a Republican budget plan for next fiscal year released last week by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, that would overhaul the Medicare and Medicaid government health care programs for the elderly while reforming the tax code to lower rates and eliminate loopholes.

And...

A White House official said Obama's speech would emphasize "shared prosperity and shared responsibility," advocating a balanced approach to control expanding deficits while protecting vital spending for education, innovation and clean energy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  You can see what's coming.  "It's for the children."  I have no problem with "spending for education" if someone could show me that the dollars are well spent, which they're not.  We already spend more per student than any country in the world except Switzerland and possibly Norway.  What, precisely, are we getting?  And why should we have to subsidize Ivy League universities that already have huge endowments? 

And I worry when words like "innovation" and "clean energy" are used.  Will someone show us what "clean energy" dollars have produced at the federal level?  Has anything worked?  I'm willing to be convinced, but details are always scarce.

According to the official, Obama will call for holding down domestic spending, cutting defense spending, reducing costs while strengthening Medicare and Medicaid, and tax reform.

Cut defense spending?  There's a fish thrown to the militant left of the Democratic Party, a wing that doesn't even believe in national defense.  Okay, I'll listen.  Yes, there is waste in the Pentagon.  But what are you going to cut, Mr. President?  We have pilots flying planes that are older than they are.  The Navy's carrier fleet is rapidly aging beyond usefulness.  And we have growing, not declining, threats all over the world.

Sounds like the usual suspects in the White House have come up with the usual proposals.  NGE.  Not good enough.

April 13, 2011