Obama's cynical, unpassable budget

The president knows the tax hikes in his spending plan have no chance of passing the GOP House. But that could still give him a great campaign argument

Here's a Barack Obama sound bite, from Feb. 23, 2009, that you're likely to hear oh, about a zillion times this fall — but not from the Obama team:

"Today I'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we've long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay — and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control."

When you see this clip, it will end with, "I'm [insert GOP nominee's name here], and I approved this message." 

Obama seems to have forgotten that he's dealing with Republicans who won't raise tax rates — period. Or has he?

With the release Monday of Obama's proposed 2013 budget, just how close has the president come to cutting the deficit in half? You be the judge: The deficit he inherited from George W. Bush in 2009 was huge: $1.3 trillion. Obama's goal, then, was to reduce this to $650 billion by 2013. If he had gotten reasonably close, it would be one thing. But the deficit in 2010 was also $1.3 trillion and will be around $1.15 trillion this year. The 2013 budget appears to show progress: $901 billion. But even that gargantuan figure is based on assumptions that may not come to be — like the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, and a new 30 percent tax on those earning more than $1 million annually (the so-called "Buffett rule"). The White House thinks these tax hikes could bring in $1.5 trillion over a decade. 

But Obama seems to have forgotten that he's dealing with Republicans who won't raise tax rates — period. Or has he? 

The president is no dummy. He knows Republicans will balk at these tax hikes. But he knows something else: Most Americans are fine with higher taxes on the upper crust. Obama also knows that polls show House Republicans get more of the blame for Washington's dysfunction than he does.

Thus the president's cynical budget strategy: Ask for the moon. Wait for Republicans to shoot it down. Obama will then have more campaign ammo to attack what he calls the "do-nothing Congress." He also gets to portray himself as a defender of the middle class — and the Republicans as defenders of the 1 percent. The strategy, along with a drop in the unemployment rate these last few months, has given the president a modest bump in the polls. Even the Rasmussen poll, which tends to lean GOP, now puts the president's approval rating at 50 percent, the highest since the bin Laden raid.