An adult conversation -- thats what we need to have about spending President Obama proclaimed at a Feb. 15 presser. The presidents hardly the first to use that cloying self-congratulatory phrase: so many House Republicans mouthed it in November that Jon Stewart put together a Daily Show montage on the theme.
Its Washingtons favorite sound bite these days. Last week Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. even called for having an adult conversation about prostitution in Nevada (Im pretty sure you cant have any other kind).
Theres something cringe-inducing about this sort of rhetoric: Its just shy of announcing that youve decided to put on your big-boy pants. One would like to think that among adults an adult conversation goes without saying. And like let me speak frankly here the phrase smacks of an admission that up till now you were just shining us on.
Still if being an adult requires acknowledging reality taking responsibility and living within your means weve got a very long way to go on Capitol Hill in the White House and among the public at large.
A new survey released the same week as Obamas press conference shows that among the general public cutting government spending may be popular but there is little appetite for cutting specific government programs.
The Harris polling firm showed more than 5000 adults a list of 20 categories of federal spending. There was majority support only for cutting six of them and these do not include the big ticket items that comprise most of the federal budget.
What areas are Americans willing to cut? Foreign aid the space program subsidies to business and welfare programs. From the perspective of the average middle-class voter this is other peoples money.
Eighty percent of respondents opposed cuts to Social Security 67 percent rejected cuts to health care and more opposed defense cuts than favored them. Is it any wonder that so many alleged austerity plans leave these three categories -- almost two-thirds of the federal budget -- off the table?
The Harris poll shows that most Americans either dont know or are unwilling to accept the fact that our budget crisis cant be solved without major cuts in benefits to middle-class voters.
Interestingly at the state level where governors cant print money and actually have to balance budgets that disconnect is far less pronounced. Blue-state Republican governors like Wisconsins Scott Walker and New Jerseys Chris Christie are surviving -- and may well win -- their fights with public employee unions.
At a state firefighters convention in Wildwood recently Christie got lustily booed. He gave it right back: For 20 years governors have come into this room and lied to you promised you benefits that they had no way of paying for. I can understand why you feel deceived he said but Why are you booing the first guy who came in here and told you the truth?
As someone who grew up in New Jersey I find it disorienting to hear a Garden State Republican talk like that. The few GOP governors of my youth were genteel WASPs who seemed to consider it gauche to mention cuts. I loved the place but considered it the densest state in the union in more ways than one.
Yet today most New Jersey voters arent booing: Only 27 percent have a positive view of teachers unions and Christies popularity remains above 50 percent.
Were far from an adult conversation at the federal level just yet. But Walker and Christie are showing that when the pinch comes such a conversation is possible.
Examiner Columnist Gene Healy is a vice president at the Cato Institute and the author of The Cult of the Presidency.
An adult conversation -- thats what we need to have about spending President Obama proclaimed at a Feb. 15 presser. The presidents hardly the first to use that cloying self-congratulatory phrase: so many House Republicans mouthed it in November that Jon Stewart put together a Daily Show montage on the theme.
Its Washingtons favorite sound bite these days. Last week Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. even called for having an adult conversation about prostitution in Nevada (Im pretty sure you cant have any other kind).
Theres something cringe-inducing about this sort of rhetoric: Its just shy of announcing that youve decided to put on your big-boy pants. One would like to think that among adults an adult conversation goes without saying. And like let me speak frankly here the phrase smacks of an admission that up till now you were just shining us on.
Still if being an adult requires acknowledging reality taking responsibility and living within your means weve got a very long way to go on Capitol Hill in the White House and among the public at large.
A new survey released the same week as Obamas press conference shows that among the general public cutting government spending may be popular but there is little appetite for cutting specific government programs.
The Harris polling firm showed more than 5000 adults a list of 20 categories of federal spending. There was majority support only for cutting six of them and these do not include the big ticket items that comprise most of the federal budget.
What areas are Americans willing to cut? Foreign aid the space program subsidies to business and welfare programs. From the perspective of the average middle-class voter this is other peoples money.
Eighty percent of respondents opposed cuts to Social Security 67 percent rejected cuts to health care and more opposed defense cuts than favored them. Is it any wonder that so many alleged austerity plans leave these three categories -- almost two-thirds of the federal budget -- off the table?
The Harris poll shows that most Americans either dont know or are unwilling to accept the fact that our budget crisis cant be solved without major cuts in benefits to middle-class voters.
Interestingly at the state level where governors cant print money and actually have to balance budgets that disconnect is far less pronounced. Blue-state Republican governors like Wisconsins Scott Walker and New Jerseys Chris Christie are surviving -- and may well win -- their fights with public employee unions.
At a state firefighters convention in Wildwood recently Christie got lustily booed. He gave it right back: For 20 years governors have come into this room and lied to you promised you benefits that they had no way of paying for. I can understand why you feel deceived he said but Why are you booing the first guy who came in here and told you the truth?
As someone who grew up in New Jersey I find it disorienting to hear a Garden State Republican talk like that. The few GOP governors of my youth were genteel WASPs who seemed to consider it gauche to mention cuts. I loved the place but considered it the densest state in the union in more ways than one.
Yet today most New Jersey voters arent booing: Only 27 percent have a positive view of teachers unions and Christies popularity remains above 50 percent.
Were far from an adult conversation at the federal level just yet. But Walker and Christie are showing that when the pinch comes such a conversation is possible.
Examiner Columnist Gene Healy is a vice president at the Cato Institute and the author of The Cult of the Presidency.
