Obama Must Address Deficit in SOTU

So says blogger Andrew Sullivan on The Daily Dish.

This is a first step - at least the GOP is getting specific about how they would reduce the deficit, and many of the items seem ripe for pruning or removal. But it's also insane in many ways. In order to get a little more than half of Bowles-Simpson's savings, while leaving the real growth areas, entitlements and defense, alone, the GOP has to lay waste to discretionary spending in unprecedented fashion, while not altering our long-term prognosis more than a jot. They have restricted themselves, as Bruce Bartlett notes, to cutting from only 16 percent of total spending in 2009. If you have any clue about this country's finances, this is a joke.

Christina Romer's plan to reduce the deficit is much more reality-based, because it goes to where the money is and also doesn't avoid the core issue of revenues. This, by the way, is exactly the Dish criterion for judging Obama's speech next Tuesday. As the recovery moves forward, the excuses for not tackling long-term debt are collapsing. Is Obama a president unafraid to tackle the truly hard issues rather than leave them to the next generation? We'll see Tuesday night. This is a moment of truth for the Dish's support of this president.

It is a first step that Republicans have finally begun to get specific about how they would address the deficit. Sullivan is also right that any deficit reduction plan that does not reform entitlements, cut defense and raise revenue isn't serious. Let's see what the President has to say Tuesday night.

--Ballard Burgher