Obama Embraces Deficit Hysteria with Open Arms

When the Democrats get slaughtered in the fall because the economy hasn't turned around, people will start looking for places to put the blame.

One of these quotes is Barack Obama, one of these quotes is from John Boehner:

"It’s time for government to tighten their belts and show the American people that we ‘get’ it"

"At a time when so many families are tightening their belts, he’s going to make sure that the government continues to tighten its own"

Krugman:

We’ll never know how differently the politics would have played if Obama, instead of systematically echoing and giving credibility to all the arguments of the people who want to destroy him, had actually stood up for a different economic philosophy. But we do know how his actual strategy has worked, and it hasn’t been a success.

Talking like a Republican while advocating conservative ideas isn't 11 dimensional chess, it makes it look like an idiot who doesn't stand for anything. And when the economy is this bad and voters can't tell who stands for what, it's the people in power who get booted.

But it's not just Republican talking points that this Administration has embraced, it's their failed policies as well: (via Digby)

Obama picks adviser to cut deficit

“Jack’s challenge over the next few years is to use his extraordinary skill and experience to cut down that deficit and put our nation back on a fiscally responsible path. And I have the utmost faith in his ability to achieve this goal as a central member of our economic team,’’ Obama said.

Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, called Lew “a superb choice’’ and a person of “the highest integrity.’’

“He knows how to make the tough choices. And he knows how to reach across the aisle to find bipartisan solutions,’’ Conrad said.

So Obama adopts Republican rhetoric and conservative ideas... which becomes a self fulfilling prophecy it leads to Repblican gains in the 2010 elections, giving Obama more Republicans to appease and beg for their affection.

I bet he and John Boehner will have some great discussions about the government "tightening it's belt" after Obama's deficit fetishism has made him speaker of the house.