From the president's budget message: "In the last century, America's economic leadership in the world went unchallenged."
It went unsurpassed, but it certainly was challenged by both the Soviet Union and Japan.
More: "our mobile networks and high-speed Internet access have not kept pace with some of our rivals, putting America's businesses and our people at a competitive disadvantage."
Yeah, such a disadvantage that Internet users around the world rely on American companies like Google, Twitter, eBay, and Facebook.
More: "When I took the oath of office 2 years ago, my Administration was left an annual deficit of $1.3 trillion, or 9.2 percent of GDP, and a projected 10-year deficit of more than $8 trillion. These deficits were the result of a previous 8 years of not paying for programs—notably, two large tax cuts and a new Medicare prescription drug benefit—as well as the financial crisis and recession that exacerbated our fiscal situation as revenue decreased and automatic Government outlays increased to counter the recession and cushion its impact. We took many steps to re-establish fiscal responsibility."
President Obama's been in office for more than two years now and he's still trying to blame the budget problems on George W. Bush. If he wins re-election, expect him to keep this up all the way through at least year seven.
More: "Over a decade, this freeze will save more than $400 billion, cut non-security funding to the lowest share of the economy since at least 1962." That's odd; over the weekend, the president was claiming that the freeze would "bring this type of spending to its lowest level as a share of the economy since Dwight Eisenhower was president." But in 1962 the president wasn't Eisenhower, it was Kennedy. Before long Mr. Obama will be bragging about bringing domestic spending to the lowest share of the economy since the George W. Bush administration.
More: "I continue to oppose the permanent extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for families making more than $250,000 a year and a more generous estate tax benefiting only the very largest estates. While I had to accept these measures for 2 more years as a part of a compromise that prevented a large tax increase on middle-class families and secured crucial job-creating support for our economy, these policies were unfair and unaffordable when enacted and remain so today. I will push for their expiration in 2012."
Unbelievable is the way Mr. Obama manages to be on both sides of this one; taking credit for the stock market gains that followed the extension of the tax cuts while at the same time denouncing the cuts as "unfair and unaffordable." He opposes them, but he "had to accept them." Got that?