the “pledge to increase the deficit”

The Center for American Progress has a new report showing that the “Pledge to America” would increase the deficit relative to President Obama’s budget. Get used to seeing this graph:

Even that is a generous grade for the Republican budget, as it assumes that the huge cuts to domestic discretionary spending will be carried out. Cutting domestic discretionary spending is a classic budget dodge. It’s a giant catch-all category of programs that have long resisted cutting either because they’re popular, vital, protected by powerful interest groups, or all three. A promise to cut domestic discretionary spending is a way to grasp anti-spending credibility without naming an actual program you plan to cut. (If opponents say, “Do you want to cut veterans’ spending? Highways? The Coast Guard?,” inevitably the response is no, we’ll cut something else.)

The funny thing is that, even if the Pledge were to carry out 100% of its phantom cuts, it would still increase the deficit relative to President Obama’s budget.

The New Republic

a source of inspiration

By President Obama for USA TODAY

I was too young to remember John F. Kennedy’s presidency; I was born the year he took office. But I grew up hearing stories about him and his brothers from my mother and my grandparents — stories of hope, possibility and understanding.

I can still remember sitting on my grandfather’s shoulders in Hawaii, watching the Apollo astronauts return from a journey President Kennedy set in motion. Looking back, I think my own sense that America is a place of boundless possibility comes, in part, from moments like these; from the stories I heard about President Kennedy.

And I’m not alone. For millions of Americans and for millions of people around the world, John Kennedy’s life and presidency was a source of inspiration; calling us all to rise above whatever barriers of faith, race or station stand in our way; to live out our ideals and set no limits on our aspirations.

It’s a testament to President Kennedy that, although his presidency lasted only one thousand days, his legacy has endured, not only though his inspiring words, but through his inspiring life.

In a campaign where a vocal minority voiced its opposition to electing a Catholic president, he saw an America where people of all faiths could pursue their aspirations.

In an era when some critics doubted it could be done, he vowed to put a man on the moon — and to do it before the decade was out.

In the aftermath of the world’s first and only nuclear confrontation, at the height of the Cold War, he envisioned a world free from nuclear weapons — even when that seemed beyond our reach.

And at a time when Jim Crow divided this country, he knew that our nation would not be free until all its citizens were free — advancing a movement that would one day make it possible for me to occupy this office.

Together, these moments reflect JFK’s belief that there was no challenge that a determined America couldn’t meet; no frontier that the American people could not cross. It is a lesson that continues to inspire each of us to ask what we can do for our country, and one that will endure for generations to come.

November 8 will be the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s election

USA Today

smiling through

President Barack Obama leaves Washington for Albuquerque, N.M., Sept. 27

The President will visit New Mexico, Wisconsin, Iowa and Virginia over the next three days, holding backyard discussions with families in Albuquerque, Des Moines and Richmond

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taking care of business

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Surrounded by legislators and small business owners, President Barack Obama signs the Small Business Jobs Act in the East Room of the White House. The legislation provides $12 billion in tax incentives and establishes a $30 billion fund to increase credit access for small businesses

Information on the Act here

a giant step

President Barack Obama takes a giant step over a row of potted ferns as he meets members of the audience after signing the Small Business Jobs Act at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, September 27, 2010. Obama signed a $30 billion small business lending bill into law on Monday, claiming a victory on economic policy for his fellow Democrats ahead of November congressional elections

;-)