Obama Budget Raises Deficit in FY12

Yuval Levin raises an essential point:

So to assess the administration’s proposal, one very crucial figure to look at is the effect their budget, if adopted, would have on the deficit in the year for which it would actually be the budget—that is, in 2012. You can find that figure on page 172 of the budget (table S-2, here). It shows that by the administration’s own calculations, the effect its own budget would have in 2012 would be increase the deficit by $11 billion. In other words, the Obama budget says that if we pass the Obama budget then the deficit for 2012 will be $1.1 trillion but if we don’t pass it then the deficit would be $1.09 trillion.

The WSJ editorial page was right on target when it called Obama's plan the "Cee Lo Green Budget." It's as though the president slept through the November elections (or, more likely, he simply wants the Republicans to field the ball first). I'm happy to report that it's increasingly likely that Paul Ryan's budget resolution will address entitlements.

For a bonus, here's video of Cee Lo performing "Forget You" on Ellen last December.