The Washington Post writes today, “President Obama’s apparent inability to block executive bonuses at insurance giant AIG has dealt a sharp blow to his young administration and is threatening to derail both public and congressional support for his ambitious political agenda.” Indeed, with outrage simmering over the bonuses at AIG and the hundreds of billions of dollars of spending approved by the administration and Congress over the last two months, it appears that Obama and Democrats will have a tougher time pushing a $3.6 trillion budget.
The Post points out, “The Obama administration was already facing a skeptical public and members of Congress critical of the huge sums of money the government has allocated to shoring up the devastated financial system.” But it’s not just the money used to bail out financial institutions that is troubling Americans. The Los Angeles Times notes, “News of the bonuses has threatened to stir a populist backlash against the rescue of AIG and other financial services, which in turn could raise voter concerns that the administration is squandering taxpayer money.”
The Budget’s $3.6 trillion price tag comes on top of $410 billion government spending bill, a housing plan that went into effect last week that could cost a quarter of a trillion dollars, a financial bailout that could cost another $1 to $2 trillion, and a Stimulus bill that will cost, with interest, more than a trillion dollars. Some are now talking about another stimulus. The national debt is more than $10 trillion. Given this massive, unprecedented amount of spending, Obama is seeing “growing skepticism over aspects of his economic agenda,” as the LA Times puts it. It’s clearly another reason that Obama has “launched an aggressive campaign-style offensive to bolster congressional supporters and marginalize Republican opponents.”
With Democrats nervous about the excessive spending, taxing, and borrowing called for and a public indignant about how taxpayer money is being spent, Obama’s budget increasingly looks like it will be a tough sell. in fact a new ditty is being passed around the nation:
"Recession is when your neighbor loses his job.
Depression is when you lose yours.
And, Recovery is when Obama loses his!"
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