knoxnews.com: News stories by the Associated PressWell, hope and change - right? Hope that at the end of 4 years, there's some change left in your pocket. Because honestly, at the rate he's going we're not going to have much left."That wasn't me," President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One.
It actually was partly him - and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years - who shaped the latest in a string of precipitously out-of-balance budgets.
And as a presidential candidate and president-elect, he backed the twilight Bush-era stimulus plan that made the deficit deeper, all before he took over and promoted spending plans that have made it much deeper still.
J.