State of the Union and Sequester

President Obama’s State of the Union speech had a lot of competition. The Dorner shootout was just ending and dominating the news, Mardi Gras parties were in full swing around the country and the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show finals were attracting a pet-obsessed public.

But, Obama’s biggest competition is his desire to be an activist president in a time of low expectations and fiscal austerity.  The bottom line is that the President is trying to sell more government, even if smarter, when most people believe less government and less spending is the better approach.

• 83% disagree with President who said spending isn’t a problem
• 58% federal government too powerful
• 73% think cutting government spending more likely to help economy than increasing it (15%) (Fox News Poll, Feb. 6, 2013)

The American people like “fairness,” but don’t like government and taxes.

The most significant events in this legislative session will be related to the federal budget, taxes, deficit and entitlements.  And, on those topics, the President had little to offer besides his well-known political warning about a failure to act.

Unless the Vice President and Minority Leader of the Senate engineer a new last minute compromise as they did on New Year’s Eve, on March 2 the next federal budget will be $85 billion less.