Which Hard Choices?

Here is what President Obama said Sunday on controlling the debt: "Somehow people say, why are you doing that, I'm not sure that's good politics. I'm doing it because I said I was going to do it and I think it's the right thing to do. People should learn that lesson about me because next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country, I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficits and debt step-up because I'm calling their bluff. We'll see how much of that, how much of the political arguments that they're making right now are real and how much of it was just politics."

My first reaction is that listening to Obama speak of deficit reduction is like listening to Jimmy Swaggart preach against succumbing to the lust of the flesh, or Adolf Hitler denouncing racism.  It just doesn't resonate when a crime's biggest offender says they are going to change next year without offering any indication of that change.  Yet I will give him the benefit of my doubt.  He may cut deficits.  My worry would then turn to how.  He claims that next year he will present difficult choices to the country.  My speculation on those choices would be:

• Complete withdrawal from Iran and Afghanistan without consideration for conditions on the ground.
• Gutting of the military. He would need to cut funding by 50% to make a substantial reduction in the budget deficit.
• Giant tax increases on producers (people who work for a living).
• New taxes on businesses to be passed on to consumers.
• Increase capital gains tax.
• Social Security retirement age moves to 70.

What I don't expect:

• Cut entitlements.  This is Obama's base, so he cannot upset them.
• Cut his health care legislation.

Sometimes I worry more about him keeping his promises than not keeping them.