A Promise Kept

Or perhaps not, in a sense.

In his 2004 re-election campaign, President Bush promised to "cut the deficit in half" by 2009. Today the Bush OMB announced that the FYE 9/30/07 federal budget deficit will come in at $207 billion, or less than half of what the deficit was when the President made his aforementioned promise.

So I guess you could say that Dubya didn't keep his promise after all. He pledged to cut the deficit in half in four years; he did it in two and a half years instead.

And by growing the economy instead of raising taxes, which is why as far as the Democrats are concerned, it doesn't count.

Makes you wonder what the Donks will do if Bush manages to balance the budget outright before he leaves office. With no deficit to reduce, how will they justify their mammoth tax hikes then? Sell the public on being syphoned exorbitantly for the next century to pay off the national debt at the same time that we retiring baby boomers are sucking the budget dry?

Rotsa ruck, fellas. Sooner or later the Bush boom is going to register as a positive factor for the GOP in the 2008 campaign, just as the looming entitlements crunch will become a cross for the Dems.

If, that is, any GOPer, much less the eventual nominee, has the savvy, wherewithall, and balls to piggyback 'em.

Yeah, right.