Obama to propose spending ‘freeze’ in SOTU

Only, like the running gag in the Princess Bride, that word does not mean what you think it means.

Pursuing a path of deficit reduction and government reform, President Obama will tonight in his State of the Union address call for a ban on earmarks and he will propose an overall budget freeze, ABC News has learned….

The president will propose some new spending in certain areas that address the speech’s theme of “How We Win the Future”: innovation, education and infrastructure. But those increases will be proposed as part of an overall budget freeze, which given the annual rate of growth is often seen in Washington, DC, budgeting as a cut.

The earmark ban is fine, but it’s hardly Obama’s idea (and as a senator, he was a champion earmarker himself).  Overall he’s proposing to lock in the extreme spending he has already piled up, and adding a little bit more, with empty promises to cut elsewhere but not defining where, and calling that a “freeze” in spending.  Sorry, no sale.

Update: Rich Lowry rips Obama’s “investment” talk.