Me Think He Speak With Forked Tongue

The Washington Post does a good job of calling the President on the doublespeak that dominates his standard routine these days. He'll spend a good bit of time talking about how we got where we are in this financial crisis, he'll talk about what his administration is doing to correct it, he'll talk about the long way we have to go and the hard times ahead, and every now and then he'll talk a bit about some of the encouraging signs that appear. All of this is good and right.

Where he goes astray is in linking the solution to our economic problems with his overly ambitious menu of policy prescriptions underwritten by a budget blueprint that is what we referred to in the Navy as "PFM" or "Pure....Magic". Additionally, the suggestion that these policy changes--sweeping and generational as they are--will do anything but exacerbate the present crisis (by making government a competitor to private industry in the capital markets) is loony.

Stick to the message Mr. President, and think hard about how Bill Clinton became the last successful Democratic President. It's the economy, stupid.