New York Times Beclowns Itself

Did you know that Barack Hussein Obama was a deficit hawk? Now that's an example of news that you can only read in the New York Times.

Remember when the Bowles-Simpson commission came out with its much-ballyhooed report on how to decrease the deficit? Remember when President Obama rejected that plan? Well, now that he’s up for re-election, the press is trying to explain that he’s ready to embrace it, despite all evidence to the contrary.

President Obama once ripped the Paul Ryan deficit plan, stating “It’s not going to happen as long as I’m president.” There’s only one problem: as long as he is president, the national debt will continue to skyrocket. Since the day Obama took office, the federal government has added $4.8 trillion in new debt.

And yet the media continues to cover for him. Today’s New York Times makes the case that Obama has become a secret deficit hawk. After rejecting Bowles-Simpson, Jackie Calmes reports, starting with a famous speech in April 2011:

Mr. Obama has come to adopt most of the major tenets supported by a majority of the commission’s members, though his proposals do not go as far. He has called for cutting deficits more than $4 trillion over 10 years by shaving all spending, including for the military, Medicare and Social Security; overhauling the tax code to raise revenues and lower rates; and writing rules to lock in savings.

Sadly, Calmes ignores the fact that Obama has made no such proposal in writing. His April 2011 may have stated those goals, but Miss America also routinely states a goal to achieve world peace. That doesn’t mean that she has a plan. As the director of the Congressional Budget Office, Doug Elmendorf, stated, “We don’t estimate speeches,” he said. “We need much more specificity than was provided in that speech.”

The only thing missing from Obama's deficit reduction plan is substance.