Numbers are flying all around Washington today, giant numbers with more zeroes than you have toes. A new Congressional Budget Office report projects that President Obama’s budget will produce $9,300,000,000,000 (of $9.3 trillion) worth of red ink for the U.S. Treasury between 2010 and 2019. That is $2,300,000,000,000 ($2.3 trillion) worse than White House bean [...]

Here‘s the new CBO report on the president’s budget. It estimates a $1.8 trillion deficit in 2009, lowering to $1.4 trillion in 2010 and declining to 4% of GDP by 2012, though overall it expects $4.8 trillion in deficits 2010-2019 — in other words remaining between 4% and 6% of GDP for the decade. Update1: [...]

The President had two significant video moments yesterday–in a personal message to the people and government of Iran…and on Jay Leno. He aced both. The Iran message–already being criticized by neolithic conservatives–is part of a strategy: make it clear that we’re willing to be reasonable, that our goal isn’t regime change (hence, the reference to [...]

The time line, in the end, may be what matters the most. In TIME magazine’s cover story this week, Bill Saporito notes that at least one congressman, Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings, knew about the pending bonuses to AIG’s Financial Products division on Jan. 15, after a meeting with AIG head Ed Liddy. Saporito also notes [...]

The AIG bonuses seem to be the proverbial straw that broke the spending camel’s back. And Congress, in typical fashion, is determined to eviscerate that straw. Here’s the latest from me.

CBO deficit forecast. Anxiety over this number is palpable. A $2 trillion deficit? That’s twice what the size of the whole budget was as recently as the 1980s. UPDATE: Bloomberg reporting the number will be $1.9 trillion. That’s $100 billion worse than the White House forecast, and a staggering number, but I’ll bet the Administration [...]

Here’s what our media critic JP has to say. As for the gaffe that is guaranteed to dominate cable today: That’s the thing about gaffes: they happen not in the focal moments, but in the seemingly harmless little digressions, when you’re relaxed–too relaxed–you feel you’ve just about gotten through a high-stakes interview, and your inner [...]

Don’t click the jump if you want to be surprised when you watch President Obama on the Tonight Show.

The following comes from the official Friday schedule for President Obama, which was just released by the White House. Later in the afternoon, the President and the First Lady will attend a reception with the National Newspaper Publisher Association in the State Dining Room, where they will be presented the Newsmaker of the Year award. [...]