Obama's Deficit

Put this is your pipe and smoke it, Tea Partiers:

The federal government budget deficit shrank in fiscal 2010, but the big gap was only $122 billion lower than the record high set a year ago.

The U.S. spent $1.294 trillion more than it collected in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the Treasury Department said Friday.

The deficit amounted to 8.9% of gross domestic product. That's down from fiscal 2009, when the deficit of $1.416 trillion was 10.0% of GDP.

Spending fell and revenues rose in fiscal 2010 as the economy recovered from the deep recession that contributed to the nation's troubled fiscal condition.

Not diminishing the fact that a $1.294 trillion deficit is a big problem that must be overcome, and the attention being placed on it is appropriate. But we have to acknowledge that the recovery is ongoing, albeit more slowly than we'd all like. But in fiscal 2010 "spending fell." That means we spent less than before. This tells me that Obama is still on the right track.

If he is smart -- and he is -- he and all other Democrats should be shouting about this every time they have a rally, are on TV, have a radio mic in front of their faces, or put out an ad on YouTube.