"The bottom line is that as far as the BHO non-defense budget goes, pending Congressional disposition of it, the left has nothing to complain about.Zero, except maybe the stimulus is too small. (Though it may be doubted that Congress would have gone for anything bigger, first time around.)"
I would beg to seriously differ with that assessment.
For starters, the Obama budget is STILL mostly -- even with the increase in non-defense spending and entitlements -- dominated by increased military spending. It may not be placed off the books like the Bush Administration repeatedly did, but it is still there, with no end in sight regarding spending controls.
Second..any form of non-defense spending proposed would simply be wiped out by the costs of the emerging financial bailouts that are simply inevitable due to Obama's continuing support of the Gethner/Summers bailout plan of allowing the big banks to readjust their toxic junk at the expense of the FDIC insurance fund.
And third...already, the usual ConservaDem/Blue Dog noises are being raised about the level of spending and how this will bust the budget....that, along with the unity of the GOP, will more than likely reduce significantly the amount of social spending available in the final version of the budget eventually passed.
Never mind that there is still NO feasible universal heath care proposal (i.e., single payer) other than the not so good Massachusetts Model of "require people to purchase private health care and hope that covers everyone"; NO genuine infrastructure spending of the levels needed, not even a hint of mass debt relief or genuine regulation of loan sharking and usury; and not even the hint of genuine nationalization and socialization of institutions of wealth.
In other words...although a great improvement over the Bush years, there's still plenty for the Left to complain about Obama...and the Democrats.
Anthony