Spending under Obama increasing at lowest pace since Eisenhower's administration

[WhyteRain]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned yet this angle:  Obama didn't "inherit the mess"; he VOTED for the mess.

Look at it this way.  We are used to talking about a new president "inheriting" the circumstances left by his predecessor -- because most of our recent presidents (all but one since 1977) have been former governors with no D.C. authority before entering the Oval Office -- Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush 43.

Unlike four of his five immediate predecessors, Pres. Obama did not need a map of D.C. when he became president.  In fact, he literally (an often misused word nowadays, but not here) just moved the contents of his desk from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other!  He had been in D.C. for four years and with the ruling majority in Congress for two.  As such, Obama became the first president in nearly 50 years to preside over a budget that he himself had voted for.  Thus it's beyond ridiculous to speak of Obama "inheriting the mess" in D.C. on Jan. 20, 2009.

Moreover, Obama voted for the Democratic Congress' budgets of FY2008 and FY2009.  Therefore it is fair to say that his spending began on Oct. 1, 2007 (the beginning of the FY 2008 budget which tripled the deficit in one year from 1.1% to 3.2% of GDP and, I'm convinced no coincidentally, eight days before the peak of the stock market averages).