Deficit spending redux

In what is apparently an attempt to be the least helpful pundit to address the issue of expenditures in an economic crisis, David Broder rides into town to put a cherry on top of the misinformation sundae we've been served these last couple days.

John McCain and Barack Obama have been asked twice -- once in the Mississippi debate and again on Tuesday night -- what their priorities would be. McCain flat-out refused to choose, arguing that the United States can do it all. Obama mentioned energy, health care and education but did not acknowledge that he might have to choose among them.

Now forget for a moment the fact that Broder's afflicted by a beltway disorder that causes him to believe that in an economic crisis the government should all but shut down while members huddle around a trashcan fire to save energy. The most glaring problem with his assertion is that it's fundamentally inaccurate.

What actually happened is that when McCain was asked a dumb question about national priorities he mentioned several, but said he would work on simultaneously. By contrast Obama mentioned three--Broder's energy, health care, and education--and ranked them in precisely that order.

Here's the transcript:

Obama: We're going to have to prioritize, just like a family has to prioritize. Now, I've listed the things that I think have to be at the top of the list.

Energy we have to deal with today, because you're paying $3.80 here in Nashville for gasoline, and it could go up. And it's a strain on your family budget, but it's also bad for our national security, because countries like Russia and Venezuela and, you know, in some cases, countries like Iran, are benefiting from higher oil prices.

So we've got to deal with that right away. That's why I've called for an investment of $15 billion a year over 10 years. Our goal should be, in 10 year's time, we are free of dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

And we can do it. Now, when JFK said we're going to the Moon in 10 years, nobody was sure how to do it, but we understood that, if the American people make a decision to do something, it gets done. So that would be priority number one.

Health care is priority number two, because that broken health care system is bad not only for families, but it's making our businesses less competitive.

And, number three, we've got to deal with education so that our young people are competitive in a global economy.

Of course, when Obama used the word "prioritize", he was using it in the sense you and I understand it--specifically as a way for him to acknowledge that, even if he's extremely hard working and equally lucky, he might not be able to address all of his goals before his presidency ends. That's a politically risky thing to say, but it's also honest. What David Broder wants, apparently, is for Obama to burn a copy of his education policy white paper on the stage, announce that he's firing that wing of his policy shop, and tell voters that there's no chance he'll ever get around to it, so they might as well stop thinking about it.