Sen. Harry Reid is angry about the possibility of President Barack Obama proposing an earmark ban in the State of the Union speech tonight. That makes perfect sense, because as Jamelle Bouie explained a while ago, all it would mean is that the president, rather than legislators, will have control over where the money goes. It doesn't mean that money won't get spent. It just means Obama gets to spend it. The only reason Obama would have cover to do such a thing is because Republicans spend way too much time freaking out over earmarks, which are less than 1 percent of the federal budget anyway.
