President Obama, in his July 15, 2011 press conference, declared:
"I am willing to take down domestic spending to the lowest percentage of our overall economy since Dwight Eisenhower[~18% of GDP]."
Since it's difficult to square this statement with Obama's political history and personality, let alone the last two and a half years of his term in office, we offer three plausible interpretations. Obama is (pick one, there really can be only one):
- baldly lying, i.e., in hyper-campaign mode
- mildly lying, i.e., omitting the highly qualifying words "discretionary" or "entitlements excepted"
- announcing to a startled Tea Party that he is, in fact, "The One!"
