Inside the Beltway

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By John McCaslin

NIX THE PROMISES

"Unfortunately, winning is more important than governing."

That's the conclusion of Leon Panetta, co-chairman of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, who sent a message Wednesday to both presidential candidates - Barack Obama and John McCain — that they can forget their costly campaign promises to the American people.

The former California congressman and White House chief of staff under President Clinton added up approximately $400 billion worth of new initiatives promised by the two candidates (the majority, more than $300 billion in spending, is proposed by Mr. Obama), which Mr. Panetta said just isn't going to happen given the country's economic woes.

Mr. Panetta also warned that the massive federal deficit will likely get worse in the short term, and balancing the books will hinge on whether the next president and Congress exercise "discipline."

REMAIN CALM

Before economic panic takes hold of every American (after all, Rep. Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Republican, said "I don't think it is too much of a stretch to say this may be the day America died"), we call attention to former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's recent pledge to the Georgetown University Law Center:

"Trust will eventually re-emerge as investors dip hesitantly back into the marketplace [and] from that point, history tells us, financial and economic revival sets in. It always has, in this society governed by that remarkable document we call the Constitution of the United States."

VITAL VOTES

Are the calendar days running out on John McCain?