'Shameless' Karl Rove Wrong on Budget

Record shortfall in current fiscal year would shrink to $1.3T in 2011

(AP) - President Obama's proposed budget predicts the national deficit will crest at a record-breaking $1.6 trillion in the current fiscal year, then start to recede in 2011 to $1.3 trillion, a congressional official said today. The new budget, out tomorrow, says deficits over the next decade will average 4.5% of the size of the economy, a level economists say is dangerously high if not addressed, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the budget before its public release. More»

Prez deserves his failing grade from the public, writes Karl Rove

(NEWSER) - President Obama has the lowest approval ratings of any postwar president at the end of year one, and he's done plenty to earn them, writes Karl Rove. Poor policies at home and abroad have helped send his ratings downward, as has the increasingly blatant slipperiness of the president's words. These "rhetorical tricks"—like chiding the Bush administration for "hastily" launching the bank rescue plan he voted for—and attacks on his predecessor have "cheapened the office," Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal . More»

(NEWSER) - Jeb Bush has a pretty dim view of President Obama, but he wouldn’t go so far as to call him names. When Tucker Carlson asks the former Florida governor if Obama is “a socialist” in an interview for Esquire, Bush demurs. “I don't know,” he responds. “It's a word. I believe he's a collectivist.” But socialism is a step too far. “Socialism is pejorative in America, so people stop listening. People are tired of it. That word won't stick.” More»

(NEWSER) - Republicans think they’ve found one chink in President Obama’s armor: public fear over rising national debt. Some 51% of Americans disapprove of Obama’s efforts to control federal spending, according to a recent poll. In every other area, Obama enjoys positive ratings. “The president is still popular, but his policies are catching up with him,” Sen. Lamar Alexander told Politico. “When that happens, it helps us make our points.” More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s agenda plays a very small role in the massive deficits facing the country, but it won't do anything to correct them, wither the New York Times reports. After reviewing a decade’s worth of Congressional Budget Office reports, the paper explains how the government turned a $800 billion surplus into a $1.2 trillion deficit: More»