Columnist: Obama may be sunk by his own deficit

Barack Obama is riding high, surrounded by sycophants and an adoring media.

What he isn't hearing is the growing concern among the American public that federal deficits -- which have reached astronomical heights under Obama -- will end up putting the final nail in the nation's economic coffin.

From a new column by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann:

It is increasingly clear that Barack Obama -- in a delicious irony -- may be sunk by his own deficit. As the old recession, which started under George W. Bush, stubbornly pushes unemployment ever higher and the new recession, caused by the deficit, raises interest rates and inflationary fears, the public will increasingly blame Obama's big spending ways for both.

Deficit spending has always been the bete noir of American voters. The gospel of the balanced budget is deeply ingrained in their political and economic psyche. Throughout all the Keynesian experiments of the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon years, voters remained committed to a balanced budget. As the deficit mounted during the Reagan administration, they worried but were soothed by good economic news. When the news turned bad under Bush, they blamed the deficit. And when Bill Clinton finally balanced the budget, they watched the economy bloom, reinforcing their convictions about the dangers of deficits.

Read the full column, "It's the Deficit, Stupid," at Townhall.com