I just watched Obama say that he favors small government. He even managed to say it without cracking a grin. I guess the Webster's dictionary can just put a picture of Obama as its definition of "Chutzpah".
[Upate] I found a transcript of it. The relevant part went like this
And -- and -- and that's why I'm always amused when I hear these, you know, criticisms of "Oh, you know, Obama wants to grow government." No. I would love a nice, lean portfolio to deal with, but that's not the hand that's been dealt us.Only later did I realize what this means. This comment, combined with his earlier criticism of the Tea Party movement
"When you see, you know... you see folks waving tea bags around, let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we are going to stabilize Social Security..." Obama told the crowd, at one point mimicking the waving of a tea bag with his left hand. "But let's not play games and pretend that the reason is because of the Recovery Act, because that is just a fraction of the overall problem that we've got. We are going to have to tighten our belts but we are going to have to do it intelligently..." The shot across the bow at the Tea Party demonstrators follows prior administration efforts to paint those protests as decidedly non-reality based affairs... But the notion that the Recovery Act is "just a fraction of the overall problem" seems like a hard pill to swallow, not least because of its $787 billion price tag. Two weeks ago, the president and his aides announced plans for $100 million cuts in agency budgets as a step forward in fiscal prudence.What is especially telling about this last story I quoted is that it comes from Huffington Post. When even the ultra-lefties are starting to point out Obama's BS then you know he's in trouble. While I was initially outraged by both these sets of Obaminations, now I actually feel quite comforted. The Tea Party movement is being heard and its impact is being felt. And you know what? You aint seen nothin' yet!

Let's hope the tea parties and follow-on protests etc. will keep them scared.
Comment by Professor X — May 1, 2009 @ 5:55 pm