Obama Fails Even His Own Smallest Test

Three months ago, Barack Obama very dramatically announced that he was asking his cabinet to cut their operations by a whole $100 million. The mainstream media dutifully reported these as "major" budget cuts even though $100 million would barely cover one day's debt service on Obama's $787 billion porkulus bill. Nevertheless, even this puny goal has been missed.

The deadline came -- and went -- without a report from the White House on whether or not that promise was fulfilled.

Asked about the spending cuts, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday that information still was being compiled.

"Those are being reviewed now, and we'll release something in the coming days," Gibbs told the daily White House briefing.

At time the challenge was announced, critics said $100 million in savings was a small amount on the context of the federal budget.

"Any amount of savings is obviously welcome," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said in April. "But [$100 million is] about the average amount we'll spend every single day just covering the interest on the stimulus package that we passed earlier this year."

In April, Gibbs insisted that ordinary Americans nevertheless would appreciate the savings effort.