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IF republicans had toed the line on spending when they were in power, they'd have the credibility to oppose the Democrat's spending.
Since they didn't, criticizing it now makes them hypocrites. They're not opposed to deficit spending, they're opposed to what the money is being spent for. (democratic priorities instead of republican ones)
BTW, this year's record deficit includes the one time spending from the stimulus package. A package that the vast majority of economists said was necessary.
Another big reason for the deficit being so large is the decrease in tax revenues that comes with a recession. No sane person could possibly blame the current administration for this recession.
FWIW, this year's deficit number is meaningless in the long term. The biggest long term threat to our fiscal health is the cost of health care specifically, and entitlements in general. We could balance the budget every year for the next 10 years but if we don't reform health care and other entitlement programs, they will bankrupt us not long after that.
I, for one, think we should wait and see what gets done in terms of health care and entitlement reform before passing judgment on the fiscal sanity or insanity of the Obama administration.
With some neat accounting tricks and a bubble economy that was booming on paper, it looked like the Bush administration wasn't so bad vis a vis deficits. Looking back now, we're much worse off financially than we were when he took office.
Let's not miss the forest for the trees is all I'm saying.
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