Not Going to Chase a Balanced Budget – Obama

President Obama has stated his goal is not to balance the budget just for the sake of it.

His view reflects the Democratic Party’s position that budget balancing in today’s environment will hurt the economy. Unfortunately for the President, the public has moved the deficit and government spending to the top of their agenda. And, the President’s disinterest in reigning in spending appears to correspond to a drop in his polls. It has led him and fellow Democrats to at least propose a budget and start a conversation.

Although Obama may be out of alignment with general public opinion, he is lined up with the Party rank-and-file. When examining priorities for the president and Congress to accomplish, a Wall Street Journal poll shows Democrats rate reducing the deficit toward the middle of their list with education, the environment and gun control laws listed more important. Republicans have reducing the deficit in second place.

The President may also be using the American people’s conflicted attitudes about government spending to accomplish his goal of protecting a robust federal government – Americans tend to like cuts in the abstract and spending in fact.