Over the weekend, the Administration announced the President
would be giving a speech on deficit reduction on Wednesday.  While I would like to believe the President
is sincere in taking concrete steps toward spending reforms and reducing our
deficit, I remain highly skeptical that he is willing to make the tough
decisions.

For starters, the President’s former campaign manager, who
now serves as the top political adviser in the White House, delivered the news.
If the President was trying to indicate a serious shift in policy, the message
should have come from someone with more substantive policy responsibilities
over the economy and budget, not a political strategist.  

Next, the use of “deficit reduction” instead of “spending
reform” is important.  The President’s
idea of deficit reduction in the past has been to raise taxes – specifically by
letting the Bush tax cuts expire and increasing costs for oil and gas
companies.  While this unrealistic
proposal to hike taxes and make villains out of America’s domestic energy
providers wins favor among the President’s base, it is not a path to fiscal
responsibility.

Finally, Rep. Paul Ryan put forth a budget proposal last week which contains several good ideas about how to reform entitlements – the key to significantly reducing our debt.   However, the Administration spent last week attacking
Ryan’s proposals and mischaracterizing them to try and score political points. That
makes it all the less likely he will address real entitlement reform on Wednesday.  Congress and the American people should
reject any plan that does not include such reforms.

Frankly, the President should just start over
and submit a new budget.  His original
budget ignored our most serious challenges and makes the deficit and debt
worse.  I am hopeful the President will
avoid making another political speech, but the evidence of last week suggests
that’s exactly what we will get.