I just watched the speech by the PREZ regarding the federal budget, and I have to say it seems like Obama has a bit of new-found steely resolve. I'm seeing a more confident demeanor; something in his face and his voice that says he's sick of obstructionism and is going forward with his ideas with or without help from the naysayers. He spoke of running government like a business. God forbid that we be made to do that! Of course talk is cheap and we will see, but.....

Mitch McConnell and John Boehner were both called out by name for cooperation in doing what Republicans constantly blather on about; reducing un-needed government spending (yeah, yeah, I know, the stimulus program was also un-needed, right? I would agree that that may be true to some extent, but, we were on the brink of (worse) disaster and who knows where we would be today without it?).

I'm liking what I'm hearing about going through completely, line by line, the present spending programs. Finding and eliminating waste, yeah, that would seem to make sense.

One example of wasteful spending B.O. pointed out that made my jaw drop was eliminating continued production of C-17 transport aircraft. According to the boss, the 180 c-17's requested by the Pentagon have been built and delivered. However, budget committee types in the past have continued to provide funding to build more of these beastly things year after year, even with no further request  from the war lords.

This, apparently, will result in an immediate 2.5 BILLION dollar savings (I believe that's the figure I heard. Going strictly from memory here).

Of course, some Boeing lobbyist and execs will have heart attacks over this, and I'm sure some may argue that this will cost jobs at Boeing. I suppose it will, however "we the people" have already bought and paid for the 180 we ordered. Enough already. We need to trim back the war machine, even if that means giving the military industrial complex a tummy tuck.

Many other examples of wasted spending were pointed out by the President in this same vein.

Pay as you go, the novel concept of not legislating spending of money that just isn't there shall be revived. 

He pointed out that had that been in effect 9 years ago the Iraq war would have had to have been waged with unpaid soldiers and donated tanks. In my own personal humble opinion it was the Iraq war more than any other single thing that brought this country to the place we are now; somewhere between recession and depression. Not a centavo of it has been yet paid for.

Of course I'm sure many will find new spending on education; investment in brain power for our workforce, present and future, to be also wasteful. I'm going to suggest that we pay for that portion by eliminating healthcare for members of Congress.

Admittedly I don't know many of the exact details of the proposed budget, and to be sure I'm generally skeptical (to put it mildly) of government in general.What I'm saying here in my little blog is that I liked the tone and demeanor of Obama in his speech that I saw this morning.

I hope it's the start of a trend.