MICKEY KAUS: “And here I thought there was just no more room to cut discretionary spending. Ezra Klein told me the discretionary budget had been combed over so often it was already neat and trim like a well-tended lawn!”

Plus: “What’s worse, the idea that Obama is pretending to be surprised at routine government overspending, or the possibility that he actually is surprised? Put this down next to him learning that there is ‘no such thing as shovel ready projects.’”

UPDATE: Okay, also this: “Yes, I know the big money is in entitlements, not in the discretionary budget. But before you cut grandma’s Social Security check, or her Medicare–and before you raise taxes–you have to convince voters you’ve really gotten the message to the GS-13s and 14s that we are in austere times and they can’t waste a dime. It’s serious! No funny business! … This is a message Obama has pointedly failed to get across. Go to Washington–it’s still Fat City and people are living like it’s Fat City, in part because they know D.C.-based columnists will always argue ‘the money’s in entitlements’ and defend them against cuts.”

Yes, you can really see that in the packed, expensive restaurants in the Capital. It doesn’t look like the rest of the country. It looks like the rest of the country pre-2007, only fancier. Here’s a pic I snapped when I was there with Roger Simon last fall. Roger remarked that you used to see this kind of thing in Hollywood restaurants, but not so much any more.

D.C. — now not just “Hollywood for ugly people,” but “Hollywood for ugly people who party on your dime!”

MORE: Reader Rick Giovanelli writes: “Hmm, packed, expensive restaurants in the Capitol? People there spending lavishly and being out of touch with the rest of the country which is toughing out rough economic conditions? Pretty sure my daughter just saw a movie about this. Can’t think of the name of it, though. If only it had gotten some publicity recently.”