On the breakfast menu this morning:  waffles.

President Obama’s remarks yesterday at a Rio Rancho, New Mexico townhall meeting about credit card reform:

“I just want to make a little commentary about the media here, if you don’t mind.  When Congress included in last year’s budget a whole bunch of earmarks, you remember there was a week worth of stories about how terrible these earmarks were,” the president recounted. “You remember this…a week’s worth of stories: ‘Oh, these earmarks, this is what’s blowing up the deficit, this is terrible,’ blah, blah, blah.  And yet, as I said before, that was less than 1 percent of that entire budget that had been signed.  When we find $17 billion worth of cuts in programs, what do the same folks say?  They say, ‘Oh, that’s nothing.’…That’s not significant.  That’s not important.’

“Well, you can’t have it both ways.  If those earmarks were important, then this money is important, too.”

President Obama’s remarks in March upon signing the pork-filled 2009 Omnibus spending bill (with roughly 9,000 earmarks totaling nearly $8 billion):

“I am signing an imperfect omnibus bill because it is necessary for the ongoing functions of government. But I also view this as a departure point for more far-reaching change.”

President Obama’s remarks during the 3rd presidential debate in Hempstead, New York:

“Now, Senator McCain talks a lot about earmarks.  That’s one of the centerpieces of his campaign. Earmarks account for 0.5 percent of the total federal budget. There’s no doubt that the system needs reform and there are a lot of screwy things that we end up spending money on, and they need to be eliminated. But it’s not going to solve the problem. ”

President Obama’s remarks about his $3.5 trillion budget proposal:

“The 121 budget cuts we are announcing today will save taxpayers nearly $17 billion next year alone.  And even by Washington standards, that should be considered real money.”

A comment about President Obama’s $3.5 trillion budget proposal by an administration official:

“$17 billion dollars, I think, to anyone’s accounting, is a significant amount of money. Again, that’s in one year alone.” 

It makes sense that Obama keeps the emphasis on the red herring of just what constitutes “significant” and “important”.  Because if people understood what is behind the number, they’d see that all this talk of “change” continues to be nothing more than keeping the country on the same, well-worn and dangerous path we’ve been on for years.

As the Wall Street Journal points out:

The added cost of new programs detailed in Mr. Obama’s budget appendix will swamp the $17 billion of potential savings anticipated from eliminating or cutting back 121 programs, enumerated in a separate document.

The White House on Monday will release a revised deficit projection to take into account technical and economic changes that will almost certainly widen its February forecasts of a record deficit of $1.8 trillion for fiscal 2009, and $1.2 trillion in the fiscal year that begins in October.

Even if the president could eliminate the entire defense budget, along with domestic discretionary programs in 2009, the $1.3 trillion of savings would still leave a $445 billion budget deficit. 

Well, President Obama, if we can’t “have it both ways”, then neither can you.  And, by the way, yes, I DO mind your little ongoing commentaries about the media.  It is your job to uphold the Constitution and it is the media’s job to report on how you do or do not do it.  If you don’t like the fact your progressivism and your lying results in criticism,  you’ve no one to blame but yourself.

Pass the syrup, please.