Obama acknowledges 'spending problem,' just doesn't want to do anything about it

Breaking with fellow Democrats, President Obama does in fact believe Washington has a "spending problem," his aides insisted Monday. But Obama won't outline any major proposals during his State of the Union address to bring down a soaring $16.5 trillion national debt, they said.

On the eve of the key speech, administration officials pointed to previous spending reductions, trying to press forward with calls for new government investments that the president contends will spur job creation.

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Monday conceded that health care spending was the biggest driver of annual deficits. Yet when asked if Obama would support raising the Medicare eligibility age, Carney said the president wouldn't even consider such a proposal.

Even as the tide of red ink rises, administration officials claim the president has ushered in a new era of fiscal discipline at the White House. But Obama's omission of the national debt from Tuesday's address undercuts that assertion, some analysts said.

"Obama is trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole; they're just talking about domestic discretionary spending," said Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute who focuses on entitlement programs. "But then entitlements kick in, and everything falls apart. He uses all this tough language on spending cuts but hasn't made any of them."

Obama previously recommended $4 trillion in cuts over 10 years as the benchmark for stabilizing federal deficits. Pointing to $2.5 trillion in savings already identified, Obama insists he is more than halfway to that goal -- and argues that any deal surrounding the so-called federal sequester would bring the U.S. closer to hitting that figure.

However, that is a rosy projection of the nation's fiscal standing, even some Democrats said. Former Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., told reporters Monday that officials would need to find $5 trillion worth of solutions just to "get this debt going down as a share of the economy." ...

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