Missed Opportunity

President Obama missed a golden opportunity yesterday. In a closed door signing the President approved the $410 BILLION budget extension.

The president could have used this as a perfect moment to show his commitment to fiscal responsibility, struggling minority school children, and a renewed opposition to earmarks… but he didn’t. Instead he claimed that this was just last years mess that needed to be taken care of and then he could move on with his own rules and his own budget.

The problem is that the $410 BILLION check has his name on it.

Opinion polls would have risen across the board if President Obama would have rejected the 8% increase built into the budget extension. At a time when taxpayers are hurting and watching their savings accounts dwindle under job losses or pay cuts, it would have been a morale boost to see the federal government take a 5-10% cut in their normal operating budget. An 8% increase is just a slap in the face and a very clear message that Washington is out of touch with what is going on in the country.

President Obama recently talked about education and claimed that he wants all children to have the same opportunities that he had. Unfortunately Democrats slipped a bone to the teachers unions into the monster spending bill and killed a highly successful voucher/scholarship program that had allowed 1700 poor Washington DC kids to attend private schools. The program allowed for 1700 ‘scholarships’ of $7800 to be given to children at public schools, who could turn around and take that money to a private school to help pay their tuition. DC schools are notoriously bad and many of the children and parents who participated in the program did so not only to improve their child’s education but because they feared for their child’s safety at the public school. $7800 may seem like a lot of money to be spending on one child, but it is about HALF what the DC public schools spend per child. President Obama could have not only been a savior to these 1700 children, but could have increased his own position as an education reformer by rejecting this bill because of this amendment.

Anyone who pays any attention knows that Washington is broken. President Obama could have made a strong statement to the nation that he is serious about fixing it by vetoing the over 8000 earmarks that are included in this bill that added over $7 BILLION to the cost. It would have sent a message to the American people that he actually cares about their concerns and that it is not going to be “business as usual” in Washington.

Unfortunately for him, and for us, President Obama did not veto this horrible budget extension. Instead he tried to limit his personal responsibility in the matter and claim that this is just an extension of what happened last year. With opinion polls still hovering around 60% (though falling) the president could have used his position to pressure congressional leaders of his own party to make the obviously needed changes to this bill, but he didn’t. The funny thing is that it would have stopped the slide in his polls and probably sent them slightly in the other direction.

This was a missed opportunity.

By any measure it was a mistake.