Christina Romer wants President Obama to focus on the deficit in his State of the Union speech:
My hope is that the centerpiece of the speech will be a comprehensive plan for dealing with the long-run budget deficit. I am not talking about two paragraphs lamenting the problem and vowing to fix it. I am looking for pages and pages of concrete proposals that the administration is ready to fight for.... The need for such a bold plan is urgent — both politically and economically. Voters made it clear last November that they were fed up with red ink. President Obama should embrace the reality that his re-election may depend on facing up to the budget problem.
Atrios is flabbergasted:
...the idea that it's good politics to talk about the deficit in the State of the Union is insane, and the idea that it will be good for policy to have the political dialogue focused on the deficit, as opposed to, you know, JOBS, is even more insane.
I'm not too thrilled on the idea -- especially since the budget is mostly irrelevant to Obama's re-election prospects -- but even if it's insane for a Democratic president to talk about the deficit in the State of the Union, it's not uncommon. Bill Clinton mentioned the deficit -- and deficit reduction -- 11 times in his first State of the Union (similar to Ronald Reagan, who mentioned it 12 times) and eight times in his second, and five times in his third. Likewise, Jimmy Carter mentioned deficit-cutting four times in his first State of the Union, three times in his second, and made a pledge to balance the budget in this third.
Most liberal bloggers aren't too worried about the deficit, but this actually puts them at odds with the Democratic Party, which has a nearly two-decade commitment to serious deficit reduction. In other words, that Obama's advisers want him to talk about the deficit isn't terribly surprising.
-- Jamelle Bouie
