President didn't like earmarks, until he did (because he's a lying idiot)Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 3/13/2009 | ROGER SIMON
"President Obama sounded so mournful Wednesday about having to sign a $410 billion bill to fund the federal government that, for a second, I thought he would refuse.
He was not sad about the amount of money involved. These days, $410 billion is small potatoes. Obama's stimulus package was $787 billion. His budget for next year projects a $1.75 trillion deficit.
So $410 billion is probably in the range of what Bernie Madoff still has hidden away in his mattress.
No, it was not the amount that made the president so gloomy. It was the $7.7 billion for 8,570 pet projects that are contained in the bill and known as earmarks.
During his campaign, Obama had promised to end most earmarks, and now he is spending billions on them. This has ticked him off. Sort of."Done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their districts, and that's why I've opposed their outright elimination," Obama said Wednes- day.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/1477075,CST-EDT-simon15.article"
