Tea Parties working

Those "little" Tea Party protests on April 15 may have hit a nerve.

First, the liberal media tried to mock the protesters by calling them "tea baggers", an off-color remark referencing a homosexual sex act of the same name. Then some in the media tried to say that the protests were staged and the invention of conservative television network (and competitor) Fox News. Then various "thinkers" in the Democratic establishment weighed in. James Carville called the Tea Parties unimportant, while presidential advisor David Axlerod called them a "dangerous" way to respond to the economic woes of America. Which is it, gents?

Ding, ding, ding. All point to a deep worry that the Tea Parties might be the beginning of something big.

The big tell came today when President Obama tried to paint himself as a government spending cutter, not a big-government spender. He said: "We have a deficit -- a confidence gap -- when it comes to the American people ... and we've got to earn their trust."

Our smooth talking president knows that if the spirit behind the Tea Parties grows, it spells big trouble for his administration and for his big-spending buddies who face mid-term elections. So, the president says he's going to cut $100 million of wasteful government spending and hope that the American public doesn't focus on the trillions of new spending he hopes to get on in his first budget.

I don't think taxpayers will fall for it. The Tea Party protests are on to something elemental that cuts across all frustrated taxpayers, Independent, Republican and Democrat. It is good that the president is willing to cut wasteful spending. But he gets no extra credit from me for doing what is his job, which among other things is being a good steward of taxpayer money.

The rub will come when he tries to get Congress to pass his multi-trillion-dollar deficit budget. If he grows the deficit over President Bush's deficit (which was also way to big), then the angst of those "little" Tea Parties will rightly turn on the president and all who vote for his budget.

Or so I think. What say you?