Obama Is Far From Being A Big Spender

So much bogus math and false assertions is being thrown around in this presidential campaign.

One is that Pres. Obama is a big spender. One friend is so sure of that, he provided some of the "proof" being used by Obama opponents. It wasn't even worth a response. A huge factor Obama critics either overlook or want everyone else to overlook that can make Obama appear to have blown up the deficit is how expenditures for GWBush's two wars are counted.

Bush did not include them in his budgets, but put them under "emergency spending." For two terms! When Obama took office, he said it was dishonest to keep war spending off the budget, so he included it in his budgets. Thus, it looks like he's increased spending by a trillion or more when he's actually reduced the budget -- by $200 billion.

Below is a chart that shows how the budget has shrunk since Obama took office, along with some commentary that was posted with it:

"Obama has something to brag about -- very few presidents of the last generation can say they managed to shrink the deficit by over $200 billion, even during difficult economic times." Only two presidents have reduced the deficit this much -- Clinton and Obama. http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/12/14399005-us-budget-deficit-shrinks-by-over-200-billion-reaches-4-year-low?lite

U.S. budget deficit shrinks by over $200 billion, reaches 4-year low

maddowblog.msnbc.com

As the job market improves and unemployment falls, one of the central attacks from Romney/Ryan against President Obama has to do with the budget deficit.