Big spenders

President-elect Barack Obama hasn't even taken the oath of office, and already he's trying to have it both ways on government spending.

On Tuesday, Mr. Obama offered justified, scathing criticism of President Bush's legacy of deficit spending and fiscal irresponsibility, which nearly doubled the national debt in less than eight years.

Then he promptly announced that he would support years of deficit spending that will make Mr. Bush's borrowing seem like a payday loan.

The Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday that the federal budget deficit will rise to a record $1.2 trillion this year -- and that Mr. Obama's economic policies would send it even higher.

"Potentially, we've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on at this point," Mr. Obama said.

For the past three years, Democrats have savaged Mr. Bush and Republicans for claiming to be advocates of limited government while feasting on pork. Democrats successfully parlayed that criticism into majorities in the House and Senate and residence in the White House.

But those attacks were never meant to suggest that Democrats themselves would be accountable spenders. Mr. Obama could use the power of his office to demand that Congress balance the budget immediately. Instead, the Democratic majority is mostly behind his plan to spend close to $1 trillion on an "economic stimulus" spree and expand social programs, even though there's no money to pay for it all.

Yes, Mr. Obama has created a White House position to sniff out government waste and improve federal government efficiency. Yes, he vows to keep earmarks out of the stimulus bill, and he has pledged to begin outlining an approach to entitlement reform by February, all of which could save taxpayers billions of dollars in interest payments -- and trillions of dollars in the long term.

But Mr. Obama and Democrats shouldn't be allowed to get away with blaming Mr. Bush and Republicans for their own deficit spending problems. Blowing the federal budget is a bipartisan bash.