Governors Chris Christie (R) of New Jersey and Bob McDonnell (R) of Virginia are both struggling with massive budget deficits. So naturally they are proposing tremendous spending programs on dozens of dubious projects, right? No. Massive tax hikes? No. True to their word, Christie and McDonnell are cutting spending, reducing the size of state government and rolling back regulations.

In Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell is dealing with a $2 billion deficit by “eliminating more than 500 jobs over three years, instituting 10 furlough days for state workers and slashing services…” The governor is proposing $730 million in cuts to the state’s education budget over two years and five state parks will be closed. But McDonnell’s budget, which must pass Virginia’s Democrat-controlled state Senate, includes no tax hikes.

To listen to the Left, you’d think Armageddon was upon us. There is great wailing and gnashing of teeth among liberals and Big Government activists in Trenton and Richmond. This will be a good test to see just how serious voters are about smaller government and reining in out-of-control spending.

Last week I suggested that upcoming healthcare summit at the White House was just for show – a play fake to give Obama the appearance of bi-partisanship, but was really intended to set the stage for congressional liberals to “go nuclear” and ram ObamaCare through Congress using budget reconciliation rules. We got some unfortunate evidence validating my concerns yesterday.

More than a dozen Senate Democrats and 119 House Democrats are asking the president not only to use reconciliation, but also to include the most radical ideas, such as the so-called “public option.” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), the third highest ranking House Democrat, said yesterday, “If you’re not going to do a 60-vote strategy, but instead a 50-plus-one strategy [reconciliation], the public option could very well be part of this package.”

This is a very disturbing development. Here’s why: The public option is a gigantic leap toward socialism and Big Government control over your life. The public option is the vehicle liberals will use to achieve single-payer socialized medicine in America. Barney Frank admits it. The radical Left knows it. And Barack Obama wants it.

Today (February 17, 2010) is the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s signing of the $787 billion stimulus bill, and the administration is putting on a hard sell for the American people. There will be a White House reception today to mark the anniversary. Later this week, Vice President Joe Biden and various cabinet secretaries will fan out across the country to host dozens of rallies touting the stimulus package’s success. Exactly what are they celebrating?

• President Obama told the American people that Congress had to pass the Democrat stimulus bill in order to keep unemployment from rising above 8%. After hundreds of billions of dollars were spent, unemployment hit 10% last year and remains near that figure today. On the most critical measurement of success laid down by the president, the bill is an abject failure. STRIKE ONE!
• In promoting the stimulus, President Obama promised us that the funds would be spent on timely, “shovel ready” projects. In spite of the financial emergency that necessitated the biggest spending bill in American history, if not world history, just one third of the stimulus funds have been spent. So much for “shovel ready.” More than 2.5 million Americans lost their jobs last year, while most of the stimulus money intended to “save or create” jobs went unspent. STRIKE TWO!
• President Obama promised us that the stimulus funds would not be wasted, and he named Vice President Biden “stimulus czar.” We now know hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars were spent to create jobs overseas. We learned that thousands of jobs were created in places that don’t exist. President Obama promised that 90% of the stimulus jobs would be created in the private sector. An analysis by the New York Times found “the data suggests that well over half of the jobs claimed so far have been in the public sector.”But, wait – there’s more. USA Today reports that billions of stimulus dollars are being spent on programs so inefficient or redundant that even Barack Obama wants to cut or eliminate them! Presumably, Joe “the Stimulus Czar” Biden knows the president’s budget priorities. How did you miss that, Joe? STRIKE THREE!

I could go on, but it’s not necessary. While the administration celebrates this colossal failure, the American people know better. Last week, a New York Times/CBS News poll found that six percent of Americans thought the stimulus bill had created jobs. And, no, that’s not a typo – just six in one hundred Americans believe the $787 billion bill did what it was supposed to do.

Instead of doing a victory lap around the country on the taxpayers’ dime, Obama and Biden ought to be apologizing for the biggest boondoggle in history. Instead, they are having a Marie Antoinette moment – while millions of Americans have lost their jobs, Obama is spending their money to create jobs overseas and grow the government. Now he wants to tell us what a great deal this has been!

I know there are some signs of growth and improved economic activity — “green shoots,” as economists like to call them. This is not proof that “Obamanomics” works. No matter how badly Washington wastes your money, our economy remains very vibrant. There are millions of entrepreneurs and hard working men and women who get up every day, go to work and do their best for their families. They invest, they work hard and they succeed in spite of government, not because of it. Sadly, that is a lesson that Washington liberals seem incapable of learning.

Media elites and pointy-headed leftwing intellectuals are having spasms this morning over Sarah Palin. What set them off this time? A liberal blogger discovered that Gov. Palin had written some “cheat” notes on her hand to use during her speech at the Tea Party convention this weekend. Every commentator in the country is using the incident to denounce her as stupid, non-intellectual, un-presidential and unserious. By the way, the “reminders” on her palm were “Energy,” “Cut taxes” and “Lift America’s spirits.” Oh the horror!

Of course most of the media talking heads continue to think that Obama is just the smartest, coolest guy that has ever occupied the Oval Office. Most of them thought it was silly when we raised questions about why our Harvard-educated president couldn’t say “Good morning” without his co-president – the Teleprompter. And even with the teleprompter, Obama manages to display serious ignorance. In a speech last week, he told a story about a Navy corpsman apparently not realizing that the “p” and the “s” in “corpsman” are silent. Twice, with the teleprompter, Obama pronounced the word as “corpse man.” Now there’s a job I wouldn’t want.

The media and the Left desperately want America to think that only liberals are smart. I remember how Reagan was mocked unmercifully because he used note cards during his speeches. The media had nothing but contempt for Dan Quayle. And, of course, George W. Bush was constantly presented as a buffoon.

“Poor little stupid Sarah Palin,” they are all saying. She wrote “Energy” on her hand to remind herself to bring up the need for more drilling. She wrote “Cut taxes” because she believes that is how to get our economy moving. She wrote “Lift America’s spirit” because she knows America needs inspiration.

Our president doesn’t write notes on his palm. He “knows” that limiting drilling is a great idea while we grow more dependent on people who hate us. He “knows” that raising taxes on families and small businesses is just the thing to do when the economy is on the ropes. And he is too busy apologizing for America’s sins and bashing businesses to think about lifting our spirits.

So who is the stupid one?

CBS’s decision to air a Super Bowl ad that tells the story of Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Tim Tebow’s miraculous birth has caused an uproar among liberals. NOW condemned the commercial, which details Tim’s mother’s decision to give birth to Tim despite a doctor’s recommendation to abort because of possible health complications, as “extraordinarily offensive and demeaning” and “hate masquerading as love.” The Feminist Majority Foundation launched a campaign to get the “anti-choice super bowl ad removed.”

The Left is complaining that the ad is too controversial. But as I explain in my Human Events column today, the real reason for their outrage is exactly the opposite: that the commercial is so inoffensive and, in fact, so inspiring that they worry it might actually win hearts and minds for the idea that all human life is sacred. You can read my column at www.humanevents.com.

Think back for a moment to the prevailing wisdom in the days following the November 2008 election. Liberal elites and the media were gloating. The most leftwing candidate in history had just been elected president, and Democrats had secured super-majorities in Congress. “The GOP,” they crowed, “is dead!” “Republicans can’t compete in New England.” “It’s a washed-up, white male party that will never hold national office again.”

Other “wise men” counseled the GOP to move beyond Reagan, to abandon conservatism and to evolve in the age of Obama. Liberal elites, who did not even try to conceal their glee at Obama’s election, were offering the GOP advice on what to do to get along in their new world. Conservatives were repeatedly encouraged to reconsider our most cherished values. The Tea Party activists were mercilessly mocked by contemptuous liberals as “ignorant” and worse. What a difference a year makes!

My point is simply this: Ignore the liberal elites! Our values aren’t the problem, and we don’t need to take advice from folks who aren’t our friends.

S.O.S. – Stop Obama’s Spending!

I could write ten pages today on the errors of President Obama’s economic address yesterday at the liberal Brookings Institution. But I know your time is valuable, so I’ll limit myself to just two points.

First, the president attacked the Bush Administration yet again. To borrow a phrase from the Left, it’s time to move on. You’re in charge now – the buck stops with you, Mr. President. But it was also very odd to watch President Obama attack a program he voted for (TARP) and in doing so condemn many of the officials in his administration who were responsible for that program.

His Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, was president of the New York Federal Reserve and played a key role in the formulation of TARP, as did Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who Obama just nominated for a second term. If Obama thinks so poorly of the program, how much sense does it make to keep these guys around?

Second, his policies aren’t helping. The stimulus spending has been a failure – at least in meeting Obama’s stated goals to create millions of jobs and keep unemployment at 8%. Undaunted, Obama is doubling down on that bad bet – using TARP money to finance another stimulus spending bill.

There is some logic to a government’s deficit spending in bad economic times. But that assumes the government will rein in spending when things improve. This administration shows no sign of reining things in. In fact, Obama said yesterday that his plan is to “spend our way out of this recession.” And he’s hitting the accelerator.

New debt figures were released yesterday. During Obama’s first year in office, the United States government ran a $1.4 trillion deficit. At the rate things are going now, our annual deficit in Obama’s second year could exceed $1.7 trillion. This level of spending is unsustainable, and it’s just not possible to raise taxes high enough to support it. But that won’t stop the liberals from trying, and their planned tax hikes will destroy the economy.

Liberals just can’t contain themselves. When they start losing a debate, they resort to epithets. Yesterday, Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid went to the Senate floor and denounced opponents of socialized medicine by comparing them to defenders of slavery and opponents of civil rights. Reid said:

“Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all the Republicans can come up with is, ‘slow down, stop everything, let’s start over.’ If you think you’ve heard these same excuses before, you’re right. When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said ‘slow down, it’s too early, things aren’t bad enough.’ …When this body was on the verge of guaranteeing equal civil rights to everyone regardless of the color of their skin, some senators resorted to the same filibuster threats that we hear today.”

[For those who don't understand why Reid is way off on his statement: Republicans today aren't saying "slow down, it's too early, things aren't bad enough." They're saying "start over"!  There's a BIG difference.  Republicans want change in health care too (and they've made propositions for the past X years including this year), but not the change that Liberals are forcing down our throats.]

Media reaction so far has been subdued, and that’s not surprising – there’s a different standard for liberal politicians. You’ll no doubt recall that leftwing pundits lectured the town hall protestors this summer for their incivility for daring to question the wisdom of government-run healthcare. Yet they are silent when liberal leaders display their own incivility and contempt for the American people. Sadly, this is nothing new for Harry Reid. This summer he called the town hall protesters “evil mongers.”

Our liberal elites just can’t imagine why anyone would oppose socialism. What’s not to love about government bureaucrats denying needed surgeries, arthritis medication and cancer treatments?

The healthcare “reform” debate in the Senate may well be in its final stages. Yesterday, President Obama rushed to Capitol Hill to give Senate Democrats a pep talk. The president reminded them of the historic significance of their work and urged them to stick together. According to various reports, he avoided discussing contentious policy issues and attempted to “stay above the fray.”

Friday, Senate Democrat Whip Dick Durbin told reporters that only two issues remain unresolved. Durbin said, “Abortion and [the] public option are really the major obstacles at this point.” One may be dealt with today. Sunday, Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid announced that the Senate will take up abortion funding today. Senators Hatch (R-UT) and Nelson (D-NE) will offer an amendment similar to one that passed the House guaranteeing that no federal money will be used to pay for abortions. Few expect the amendment to pass since only three Democrats are likely to support it.

That said, I found Durbin’s statement very profound. This “reform” plan sets the stage for socialized medicine in America, and liberals are okay with that. It raises taxes by half a trillion dollars, and liberals are okay with that. It cuts Medicare by half a trillion dollars, and liberals are evidently okay with that. For the first time in our history, the federal government is going to mandate that citizens purchase a product or risk going to jail, and liberals are okay with that.

There is no enforcement mechanism to guarantee that illegal aliens would not be subsidized in this plan, and liberals seem to be okay with that. The bill creates a new trillion-dollar entitlement program when we are running record deficits, and liberals are okay with that. It purports to cover tens of millions of individuals without providing one additional nurse or doctor to care for them. The obvious result will be long lines leading to rationed care, and liberals are okay with that too.

Liberal politicians may be oblivious to reality, but the American people are very worried about what government-run healthcare would mean for them. For example, voters in Harry Reid’s home state of Nevada are growing more skeptical of this socialized medicine scheme. Just 39% of Nevada voters support Obama’s takeover of our healthcare system, while 53% oppose it.

What’s interesting about this poll is that Harry Reid is up for reelection next year, and the percentage of voters who say they would reelect him isn’t much higher than those supporting this socialized healthcare scheme. This poll and others suggest that politicians pushing ObamaCare this year may find their careers in critical condition next year.

At 11:16 PM Saturday night, the House of Representatives passed Nancy Pelosi’s 2,000-page, $1.2 trillion socialized medicine scheme by just two votes. Republicans were virtually unanimous in their opposition (only one Republican – Anh Cao, who represents a liberal majority-black district in New Orleans – voted for the bill), while 219 Democrats voted for it. More than three dozen Democrats voted against it, proving yet again that on major liberal initiatives the most bi-partisan aspect of these bills is the opposition to them.

The House version of the healthcare bill has been declared “dead on arrival” in the Senate, and Democrats remain divided over some big issues, including taxpayer-subsidies for abortion. During the House debate, 64 Democrats broke ranks to back the Stupak (D-MI)/Pitts (R-PA) amendment preventing taxpayer funding of abortion. After that vote, Planned Parenthood issued a statement noting, “Planned Parenthood Federation of America has no choice but to oppose HR 3962 [the entire healthcare ‘reform’ bill].” That’s the good news.

Here’s the bad news. Today House liberals are demanding that the Stupak/Pitts amendment be stripped from the bill in the House/Senate conference committee. The Hill quotes Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) as saying, “I am confident that when it comes back from the conference committee that that language won’t be there.”

This battle will continue, and there is a chance the Senate won’t be able to act at all until next year. We will keep on defending our values, and you need to do so also.