Out spending the cuts and engaging the enemy.

“The administration’s new talk of trimming a meager .0025 percent from the $4 trillion federal budget just doesn’t square with its reckless record on borrowing and spending,”  “Washington Democrats have spent the past three months doling out more taxpayer dollars than every previous president combined, and the administration is clearly feeling the heat.”  --House Minority Leader John Boehner.

“More money has gone to Rep. John Murtha’s pet airport in Pennsylvania than the federal government will save over the next 90 days under President Obama,” --Eric Cantor

Thus Republicans point out the lack of spending control and propagandising of a trivial cut.  As we all know the Republican party knows all about lack of fiscal control.  Let's hope this is the start of actual commitment, for when they win back the Senate in 2010

Still in all, 100 million trimmed is $ 100 million.  If this is the start of going line by line, great!

Also, Obama meeting with all these Anti-American "leaders."  Most of these guys make me feel sick.  The approach President Obama is using makes me uncomfortable.  Yet, there is value in talking .vs. not talking. 

Like the Heritage Foundation, as it continues to put a Latin American team in place, the Administration needs to concentrate on four basic challenges

1. Exercise Caution on Cuba. President Obama must now give his new policy time to work and discourage Congress from seeking to unilaterally lift restrictions on U.S. tourism and end the embargo. He should continue to press for reform, drawing high-level attention to Cuba's human rights situation and emphasizing the need for a democratic transition on the island.
   
   
2. Keep Mexico on the Front Burner. Mexico is by far the most pressing regional challenge, one that requires the steady application of the Oval Office's influence. The Administration needs to focus on the delivery of promised anti-drug assistance. It can help by using the President to deliver a powerful message against drug abuse in the U.S. as a first step toward demand reduction.
   
   
3. Complete Free Trade Deals. The Administration should avoid shadowy rhetoric about "partnerships" and "a new era in the hemisphere" and seal the deal by working with Congress to deliver approval of free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama.
   
   
4. Tough Love for Chávez, Morales, and Ortega. Latin America's populist-authoritarian left says it wants good relations and its own "restart button." The Obama Administration must develop a results-oriented, "show-me" policy in response. Security concerns, economic policy issues, and the loss of democratic freedoms are challenges that must be addressed if there is hope for genuinely constructive relationships to develop between the U.S. and nations governed by the Latin American left. Photo-ops and populist dramatics make good media story, but they accomplish littl