What we have here is a failure to communicate. (On the Freeze Thingy)

[quiet.american]

Fact: FY2010 Budget was passed by the House by a vote of 233-156 on April, 2, 2009

Fact: FY2010 Budget was passed by the Senate by a vote of 55-46 on April 2, 2009
http://www.opencongress.org/wiki/FY_2010_U.S._federal_budget#Budget_details

Fact: FY2010 Budget was passed with increases across the board for major initiatives and government agencies:
"In all, the $3.5 trillion budget contains a number of spending increases on domestic programs, resulting in a corresponding increase in the federal deficit. The federal deficit is forecast to be $1.75 trillion in 2009, declining to $1.17 trillion in 2010 (the first year of the plan) and $533 billion by 2013."

Fact: The "freezing" that is causing the current frenzy would be "frozen" at levels that already include increases passed in the FY2010 budget, and as the NYT explains:
"The freeze would apply to lower priority programs in a sliver of the overall budget, while spending on administration priorities — like education and environment — would continue to grow.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/opinion/27wed1.html?hp

Probably everyone here knows I'm a stalwart Democrat and supporter of Pres. Obama. Let me say this, when I read the headline on Yahoo: "Pres. Obama proposes spending freeze" (or whatever it was -- the words, "Obama...spending freeze" obscured all else), yes, I did a "wtf?" I immediately recalled that McCain had said during debates he would freeze all spending, except for military and entitlements. Obama subscribed to economists' view, that spending needed to be increased...so now, what in the world was he thinking?

After I'd calmed down, I remembered perusing the 2010 budget summaries and being pleasantly surprised by the amount of increased allocations that were included, and that's when I understood that the "freeze" headline, surprise, did not tell the whole story. Here's three departments at random and the increased allocations they've received:

Link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/fy2010_new_era/A_New_Era_of_Responsibility2.pdf

Dept. of Agriculture:

Provides over $20 billion in loans and grants to support and expand rural development activities,
including small businesses, renewable energy, and telecommunications.

Includes a $50 million increase to address deferred maintenance on the most critical health and
safety infrastructure within our national forests.

Includes $1 billion per year for the Child Nutrition reauthorization.

Dept. of Energy:

Begins to build a new economy that is powered by clean and secure energy through funding
provided in the 2010 Budget and the $39 billion provided for energy programs in the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Provides significant increases in funding for basic research and world-leading scientific user
facilities to support transformational discoveries and accelerate solutions to our Nation’s most
pressing problems – including the development of clean energy.

Builds on the $11 billion provided in the Recovery Act for smart grid technologies, transmission
system expansion and upgrades, and other investments to modernize and enhance the electric
transmission infrastructure to improve energy efficiency and reliability.

Dept. of Housing and Urban Development:

Provides full funding for the Community Development Block Grant program at $4.5 billion. In
addition, the Budget reforms the program’s formula to better target economically distressed
communities. The program will also stimulate innovations in metropolitan sustainability,
university partnerships, and rural housing and economic development.

Provides $1 billion to capitalize and launch an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that will develop,
rehabilitate, and preserve affordable housing targeted to very-low income households. The
Fund will help to prevent homelessness and strengthen families.

Increases funding for the Housing Choice Voucher program, which likewise makes housing
affordable to very low-income households. The Department of Housing and Urban Development
will also introduce legislative reforms to address the program’s costly inefficiencies.

Enables the Department to preserve approximately 1.3 million affordable rental units through
increased funding for the Department’s assisted multifamily properties. Combats mortgage fraud and predatory loans.

Now, I know Obama-despising "liberals" are frothing at the mouth over this "spending freeze" story as a justification for the ever-present feeling that they've been "betrayed," but now, too, are "low-info" voters who, for whatever reason, don't go any further than digesting the pre-digested pablum the media serves up and so are now lamenting in comments sections that now they have no "hope."

You know who I blame for letting this get out of hand.

No surprise. WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS.

Are they asleep at the wheel or what. Or too "high-road" with a "oh, this is the way Washington works" 'tude? Look at some of what has largely gone addressed and mushroomed in the last 6 months:

The lobbyist-fueled, astroturf effort over the summer has now been legitimized as "populism."
Healthcare reform is seen as debilitating, not empowering
A current budget that actually increases funding across the board is now being popularized as "McCain's Plan."
Scott Brown is now being hailed as "President-elect Brown."

It goes on and on. What we have here is a failure to communicate. Let's face it, "teh stupid" has metastisized to epic proportions in this country. He who has the best quip/soundbite/headline wins. And lately, that's not the WH.