Thursday, January 08, 2009,4:37 AM
Visions Of Bill Clinton
How many of you remember the early days of the Clinton administration, when our then-boy president told a fawning nation that he intended to curb wasteful federal spending and a troubling national debt by eliminating ... the honey bee subsidy?

To say we were all less than whelmed by his commitment to fiscal discipline would be an understatement (thank God for Newt Gingrich and a Republican majority that came in a year later to make a balanced budget a reality).

Now Barack Obama vows to curb wasteful federal spending and the national debt. And he's even hired a new government employee (599,999 to go!) to do it But without a honey bee subsidy to axe, what are he and she actually going to cut - besides the military?

From "Just as Obama begins, huge deficit could hamper plans":

"We are committed to changing the way our government in Washington does business so that we're no longer squandering billions of tax dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness or exist solely because of the power of a lobbyist or an interest group," Obama said at his Washington transition office.

"Even in good times, Washington can't afford to continue these bad practices. In bad times, it's absolutely imperative that Washington stop them and restore confidence that our government is on the side of taxpayers and everyday Americans," he said.

Yet while Obama stressed that he'll inherit the $1.2 trillion deficit — and on Tuesday called the Bush administration irresponsible for adding to the national debt — he didn't identify any Bush-era policy that he'd reverse to reduce the deficits and mounting debt. [my emphasis]

Not even a honey bee subsidy.

This is the definition of the term "empty gesture."

Not a good beginning.

 
posted by Jerry Fuhrman
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