For that we need someone other than Bush or anyone who thinks the way Bush thinks.
Ok, I accept your assertion.
Now, is a president who advocates spending money we don't have on costly healthcare reform that will "pay for itself" through future savings while pretty much every estimate of it's savings vs. expenditures has it running at some form of deficit any different?
We are supposed to be pulling out of Iraq, and have put more boots on the ground under Obama. The net result is a small war in Iraq and a big war in Afghanistan. Is that really much different than bush?
As for various bailouts, I think we are far enough into that at this point that there are definitely large quantities of dollars spent that are 100% Obama's tow own when victory or defeat is calculated. Saying it is all Bush's fault is just as disingenuous as saying the entire price tag of the bailout to date is due to Obama and doesn't span both administrations.
Same as it always was .. but worse.
Congress passed TARP 1 & 2 .. Obama did vote for TARP 1 as a rep ... he signed TARP 2 as the prez. The buck does not stop with this adminsitration .. he passes it.
"We have to do what families across America are doing -- save where we can, so that we can afford what we need," Obama said.
Does this mean that families in America are spending much much more than they have by record amounts .. just go bankrupt - that is what so many Americans are doing and the bank which the taxpayers have bailed out will repossess your house and then sell it to foreign investors. Fat cats getting fatter.
Gramps
This is Obama's first full budget so it is all about him and his priorities. Except, lest we forget, that he is inheriting a ton of deficit spending from Bush. Dubya had two big tax cuts which were supposed to pay for themselves, but didn't. He had a big war which was supposed to pay for itself with Iraqi oil revenue, but didn't and a small one which was on the back burner even though the bad guys were all there at one time. He got a major addition to Medicare (Part D) which was a sweetheart deal for pharma companies and did all of these things without having the revenue to pay for any of them. So Bush borrowed money. A lot of money. Trillions and trillions of dollars worth to pay for the tax cuts, the wars, and his domestic spending.
This is what happened. The debt from all that spending is still with us, even though Bush is retired and now helps Bill Clinton raise money for Haiti.
Obama has added to the debt to be sure, but in fairness most of that wasn't to enact any Obama agenda, but to prop up the banks and the economy after Bush economic policies put us into banking crisis mode and mega-recession.
So yes, the deficits are real and they are scary. We have to put our house in order so that we don't crash and burn like Enron.
For that we need someone other than Bush or anyone who thinks the way Bush thinks.