DeficitsDo Matter: When someone tells the Bushies that they are running high deficits, their response is that it doesn't matter since the budget deficit is smaller than it was during the Reagan era and people didn't care about deficits when he was President. That might have worked for Reagan, but it may not for Bush. Robert Waite, a former head of the Import-Export Bank of the United States during the 80s says that back then, Reagan could say that they Dems were the ones who spent like "drunken sailors" while leaving our national defense woefully underfunded. His deficit spending was for a purpose: to deal with the Soviet Union.

Of course the Dems are no longer the party of fiscal irresponsibility. Bill Clinton steered the party towards a pro-growth party that believed in fiscal restraint. In short, Bush can't tell people that spending under the Dems would be worse when Clinton brought the budget under control and left a nice surplus.

Karl Rove thinks that people are still too scared to be concerned about the deficit. However as 9-11 recedes further from recent memory, people are starting to pay attention to the economy and Bush might find a surprise come the fall.